Worst. Monday. EVER.

You might think I'm exaggerating, but I'm not. Okay, it definitely could have been worse - it can probably always get that way. However, barring any emergencies, today was, in fact, the worst Monday ever. (aka I was at job 3, the vet).

I left for work early as it had been snowing over my pass the night before, and I wanted to give myself enough time in case the roads were icy or the roads were slushy. I got to work a bit early, so I finished some stuff up that I hadn't had time to do on Saturday. There was a guy knocking at the door before 8am, which is when we open. And yes, our hours are posted on our front doors.

Our first appointment ended up being a pet for euthanasia. That's not exactly the greatest way to start.

The phones started ringing about thirty seconds after I took them off the night message. And they didn't stop. My boss was going to be doing "end of day" from Saturday, so I knew I wouldn't have access to the computer for at least 30 minutes. I went about my business. At 8:45, I asked if her I could log-in, and she then tells me that we're waiting on some computer technician to call us back - something to do with updates. And until she calls, we were sitting ducks.

Enter your choice words here. Because I'm quite sure I said them all under my breath. She agreed with my sentiments. Suddenly, the people never stopped coming in. I had a gal come in, telling all who would listen how her landlord set her up, and dumped her dogs food/water dishes and then called animal control claiming this person had abandoned her animals. So she needed rabies certificates and shots. Between us and animal control she was back and forth at least three times. And because I couldn't easily print up a rabies certificate because our computers were down, I had to manually write up a certificate. Which took forever.

To top it off, the clinic has been getting some kind sales call for "updating our free listing". Yeah, I don't have time for that. I hate being rude, especially right off the bat, so I politely tell these nice people who are calling from India that I don't have the time. And really, I'm not lying, as I really don't have the time to sit and talk with some guy I can barely understand. Besides, I have no idea what they're really talking about. Again, because I can't understand them. So, I politely tell them to bugger off, and they come back with, "Oh we're almost done". Hmm. A true quickie, eh? I call it like I see it, and hang up.

Our computer person finally calls in late morning and slowly each computer comes back up. But we're still not ready to go. My office manager still has to do "end of day" and back up the system. So, I'm still manually writing up receipts, adding stuff up, trying to remember what's taxable and what's not. After a few hours, my pile kept growing - my pile of stuff to enter, new patients, new clients. I finally had to separate them so I could keep stuff in order. I wrote sticky notes on files that needed special attention. I had a pile for cash, checks, and credit cards.

Then a doctor pulls me aside during a very brief lull; I had unknowingly filled a gal's vaccine order with the wrong vaccines. It wasn't life or death, but these days there's two or three choices for something. So, when this gal on Saturday had told me she wanted 300 doses of Ultra Shot, I picked out 300 doses of Ultra Shot. I didn't know that there are two kinds of Ultra Shot. One is just one thing, and the other option is plus the 8-way vaccine. Nope, not confusing at all. They weren't mad or annoyed, and told me not to apologize - which I kept doing. Even my office manager says that it's gotten worse over the years, and it'll still happens to her.

I was never so happy to see noon arrive. We lock the doors and turn off the phones for the hour. It was bliss.

Sometime around 1:30, the computers were finally up and running. How sad is it that we are so dependent on computers that when they go down, we suddenly can't function? My only saving grace was that all the clients were patient and understood. No one got irate or cursed me out. I even had a doctor helping with the phones at one point! There was nothing to do but plug along, and just keep swimming.

By the time 5pm rolled around, I had three people knock on the door to drop off their pets for the next day - surgery or whatnot. Dude. We close at 5. I stayed a few extra minutes to at least get the filing done so the regular receptionist didn't have to do it.

I really hope she doesn't decide to take another Monday off anytime soon.