Now for the staff.  I apologize for the length, but part of it is a
rant too.

Dr. T is the one that comes in 2-3 times a week.  She's very into
holistic medicine and does animal acupuncture.  I haven't really seen
much of it, but she also works emergency somewhere else and I've been
able to learn a lot from her.

Dr. R is our newest veterinarian, fresh out of school.  She very nice
and is very knowledgable, and is learning the ropes quite nicely.

And then there's the head doctor, Dr. G.  I could write a whole paper
on him. Dr. G was born and raised in France where he got his vet
degree. .He has a thick French accent, so there are times when
communication is kinda funky.  If i had to describe him in one word, it
would be QUIRKY.  Not quirky, but QUIRKY.  This guy can go from
cracking a joke to yelling at you in a split second.  Quite a
perfectionist and very quick to jump to conclusions, and very quick to
jump on you for a tiny thing.  Several times I've had to take my
supervisor/coworker, V, aside and ask, "What did I do?  Was it really a
big deal?"  And many times she's said not to take it personally.

Like today, I was cleaning this dog's teeth and they were quite bad.
One lower molar was definitely going to have to come out but the upper
one seemed fine from the outside.  Then i flipped the dog over and as I
was cleaning the inside of the very same tooth, the tip of the
ultrasonic scaler suddenly slipped into the gum beneath the tooth.  Uh
oh.... This meant that the gumline was quite infected and the tooth
root was exposed to the biforcation.  But when I told Dr. G about the
tooth, he checked the outside only and said it was fine.  I disagreed
and picked up a probe to show him.  As I was trying to put the probe in
the same spot he suddenly said.  "Wat are youz doing?  Youz don't want
to poosh too hard or youz WILL create ah pockette and cawse DAMAGE"
(Some words are misspelled on purpose cause you have to hear it being
said with a thick french accent).  I tried to explain that I wasn't
pushing and he kept saying "I SAW youz and youz were POOSHING!!  Youz
need to just relax and CALM down."  I was getting irritated and said,
that regardless that the tooth needed to come out and if he would just
take an x-ray he would see what i meant.

He then went on a two minute speech about how i need to relax and how i
can't push too hard, etc, etc, etc.  And I kinda gave him a look, that
YES i understood.  So we x-rayed the tooth and GUESS WHAT?  The gum was
abcessing and the tooth had to come out.  "Wow, I guess youz were
right"
*sigh* And he says I'M the one that needs to relax?  Like, I said,
QUIRKY.  You kinda have to take him with a huge container of salt and
roll with the punches.

But enough about him.  V, the head tech is a great woman and is
starting to become a good friend too.  She attended the same college I
did and is and RVT.  We chat easily together and she's never on me if I
make a mistake. If ever I want to try to perfect my skills at
something, I only need to ask and she's willing to let me.

I was so amazed at how fast I was able to get involved in surgeries.
At the last place i had to fight tooth and nail to be part of a
procedure and here it's quite easy.  And I get to watch Dr. G, who is a
genius at surgery.  Last place I worked at we did mainly spays and
neuters, a few exploratories here and there and the occasionaly
urethostomy.  Here we do it all.  From spays and neuters to
splenectomies to orthopedic, it's incredible.  Everything seems to be
going great at this new place.  Except for one person.

I will call her 'A'.  'A' was born and raised and schooled in Mexico
and has a veterinarian degree from Mexico.  She is not licensed to
practice vet medicine in the US, but wants to work as a technician for
a while to get the feel for how American vet medicine works.  She is
very knowledgable.  But she's also a major B*TCH.

I've wondered if it's the language barrier, that she fails to know the
exact words in english to express what she's trying to say.  It's
possible that the words and expressions she uses have worked so much
that she fails to see that when spoken they come across as rude.  Then
again, she could just BE a rude b*tch.  Several times I have bristled
not just at what she said, but HOW she said it.

For example, "Please clean this up."  becomes "Clean it up"  Short,
brisk and rude.

Small things can easily be brushed off, but after a while they tend to
get on your nerves.

But I think the thing i dislike most is that she refuses to listen to
whatever you have to say.
For example:  (what i'm trying to say is put in parentheses)
"Kristi, remember to put the microchip reader back."
"I will, but..... (there's an animal who's chart said Microchip and I
wanted to get the stuff ready.")
"No, lemme finish.  It is important that you put things BACK where they
belong."
"Yes I understand but.... (We might be needing it)"
"Please lemme finish.  Just put it back when you're done."  And she
walks off.....

Or another favorite, when positioning an animal for x-rays

"Kristi, straighten it."
"I did."
"No, STRAIGHTEN it."
"I'm trying..."
"You need to straighten it."
"Well, WHICH way??"  Then after the x-ray is taken.

"You need to keep it straight."
"Well, i thought....(.it was straight from my end)"
"No, listen, you need to hold your end and keep it straight."
"Well, can you at least.....(tell me WHICH WAY to straighten it?")
"No, lemme finish.  Just keep your end straight."
"Ok, fine."

Now individually these seem trivial, but I've been putting up with
almost three months worth of conversations like this.  I feel like I'm
being scolded and talked down to, and it's really starting to piss me
off.  I've mentioned it to Dr. G a few times, but since I'm the newest
employee I do NOT want to rock the boat.  There was a girl also hired
at the same time as me and I know she was very upset with 'A' and how
we were being treated.  'A' also doesn't like to delegate.  She will
swoop around the clinic, cleaning this, restocking that and here I am
standing around with nothing to do.

The clinic closes at 6.  All equipment, especially the x-ray processor
and oxygen tank should NOT be turned off until 6 or until all clients
have left.  So why the hell is 'A' turning stuff off at 5-5:30.  "It's
slow and we need to start closing up."  Closing and turning everything
off takes 10 minutes TOPS.  I got into an argument with her last week
about it and I finally had to get Dr. G in on it and have him tell her
NOT to turn thigns off until 6.

Now she's turning things off at ten minutes to 6.  sheesh!  but i'm not
going to bring it up.

It's obvious that we have a personality clash.  She thinks i argue with
everything she says, and I'm pissed off that no matter what I have to
say whether it's against her or not, she won't let me say it.  It's a
powder keg and I'm hoping that one of these days i'm not going to lose
it.  She bites my head of whenever i talk to her.  Like today when she
was watching an anesthetized animal.

"'A', everything ok, you need anything?"
"I'm fine. I'm here and i don't need anything.  When I need something
I'll tell you."  Uh, ok, I was just asking.....

Honestly, if she wants me to do something, I'll do it.  But its' the
WAY she's saying it that sets me off.  Like it was after 6 and due to
everything going on I noticed that the syringe basket was low, so I
went and got a box of syringes but before i could get to it

"No, no, don't.  It's after 6.  Dr. G does not want us to restock after
6.  We're not getting paid to restock."

Um ok, even though she had already swooped in and turned everything off
and there wasn't much else to do.  Not to mention it would have taken
less than 30 F****** SECONDS TO FILL THE DAMN BASKET!!  But i just
shrugged and walked away.

She's a MAJOR perfectionist, but a very good technician.  Dr. G thinks
he has a great find by having someone with the knowledge of a vet
working for him as a technician and he values her experience.  But I
don't think he realizes or wants to realize that she causes friction.
V, the head tech, is alsotired of 'A' mouthing off to her.  But it
doesn't look like Dr. G is going to do anything about it.

I don't know what to do, and in reality there's nothing I CAN do.  We
avoid each other and rarely talk to each other.  When we do have to
work together, I try to be as professional as possible.  But the
tension is there and one of these days it's going to blow.  Since 'A'
is so experienced I'm afraid that if came down to it, Dr. G would pick
her over me.  But I REALLY like working there, and there's so much i
can learn and I really want to be there when we move and grow.

Oh and btw, Dr. G is paying me 3 dollars MORE than what I was making at
my old place.  To go from $9 to 12$ an hour is not something you just
shake off.

Still, I'm debating whether to cut my losses and look for someplace
else.  Everything else about this place I love, except for this one
b*tch.  And if she's in for the long haul, then it could potentially be
bad.

*sigh*

Kristi