Murphy's Law Sucks

If anyone ever finds Murphy, shoot him. I'm sick of him. He makes a so-so day go straight to Hell in a hand basket.

Today was my day at the Sticksville clinic, with a vet on duty. I knew yesterday that we were double booked a bit in the morning for some vaccinations, but I figured those go fast, so really there shouldn't be a huge issue. My first client showed up about two seconds after I drove in. I literally hadn't even gotten out of the car yet. She was nice to at least wait until I got inside and turned the "Closed" signs to "Open". She comes in with a cat to be spayed, saying that she had called the main clinic in Town who told her they had a cancellation so she could bring her cat in. I must have a confused look on my face, as I looked at my appointment book and saw no cancellations. I thought to myself, well, one of two things happened: either the cancellation took place after I left at 4pm yesterday OR the cancellation was really in Town and not here. I took the cat back, and hoped that one of my other spays didn't show up. Prayers not answered. All three spays and the neuter showed up.

Why would I hope a spay didn't show? I only have two surgery packs at our little outpost of a clinic. Meaning, I don't have enough sterile surgical instruments for four animals.

Doc shows up about 8:20 and his first words to me out the back door were, "Did you really need 10 bags of cattle mineral? Because I couldn't fit 10 bags in my truck." And this is the reason why vets don't have room in their trucks, their beds look a lot like this:

My jaw dropped when he said "10 bags of cattle mineral". I told him I had asked for two bags. He brought me six. No need to go to a gym when I have 50lb sacks of cattle mineral. After that, he hands me a box chock full of 5lb bags of dog food in Ziploc bags. (there's one brand of dog food that we sell that way, as well as it's 40lb cousin). I got all confused again and questioned him, and he said that's what they gave him. Hmmm. I had asked for two 5lb bags of dog food, I wound up with about 10. (scratch head) After that, he hands me a case of 8-way vaccines for cattle. I got that confused look on my face again. When he mentioned the look, I said, 8-way wasn't on my wish list. (the main clinic in Town provides us with all our supplies; each week I make up a list of stuff we need, and the vet brings it on Wednesday's when he comes over for the day). Another thing I was befuddled over was that I had asked for those pink eraser toppers for pencils; I got those, plus a box of pens (a type I don't particularly care for) and extra sharpies . . . none of which I needed. (still scratching head)

While dealing with the confusing wish list box, I told Doc about our morning. He was cool with the double booking for vaccinations, and then started drawing up drugs to knock out the cats we had to spay. He brings a knocked out kitty to the surgery table and I hear an "Uh-oh". FYI, that's never a good sign. I run into the room, and he tells me we have no oxygen for surgeries. Now, we don't tube cats, but we do tube dogs. So we quickly did the two cat spays, then called a local store that had started carrying O2 tanks to see if they could switch out our big tank. They could, but we had to haul our tank in and bring the full one back if we wanted it done now. So, Doc and I barely manage to load the empty tank onto the tailgate of his truck and barely managed to get the full tank up the stupid stairs into the clinic. While he was doing the dog neuter, I was scrubbing a spay pack as fast as I could so I could autoclave it. We'd have to do the dog spay during our lunch hour.

At 8:30, our 10am appointment shows up for puppy shots. Really?! I told him Doc was busy with surgeries and his appointment was for 10am. He left the dog with us to pick up later. Wise choice early bird. Luckily, one of my double-booked appointments didn't show. But it was a mad-house all morning. I was answering phones, getting extra suture material for the vet, scrubbing packs, and assisting people who wanted to buy stuff. My head was spinning. (that might be an understatement) Our 11:45 showed up at 11. I was trying to check people in, get vaccines ready for Doc so everything was lined up, and check people out.

Here's an issue: Sticksville clinic doesn't have a computer. Nor a credit card machine. So, if someone wishes to pay by credit card, I have to call the main clinic in Town and hope the receptionist has a few minutes to spare -which she usually doesn't. And there are times that I get a busy signal - for like 10 minutes. By the afternoon, Doc was hovering, mumbling how we gotta find a better way. I completely agree.

By 11:50, the spay pack was autoclaved (meaning sterile), and we knocked out our last surgery. Which also included a very messy tail dock. I say messy because no matter how hard I tried, the waste basket just couldn't be in the right position. I wound up on the floor afterwards cleaning up the mess. I had thought of calling K to see if she could bring me a sandwich, because I typically go there for lunch on Wednesdays. I didn't have a spare moment to dial. I usually take at least a granola bar, which I (of course) didn't think about today. Doc was able to steal about 10 minutes in his truck out back to nibble on something. I kept working away. It wasn't the first time I didn't get a lunch at a job. Sometimes you just keep going.

After lunch, Doc had two ranch calls, one of them being my grandparents. Both ranch calls were the same thing, Bangs 6 heifers. Now, Drake or Jewels, before your mind goes in the gutter (probably too late there), it's a Brucellosis vaccine which is required by law and the cow gets an ear tag and an ear tattoo. It's not slang for anything. I swear. After the first ranch call, he comes in, cleans his kit, and I put a note on the door saying we'll be back in 30 minutes - Doc wanted me to go with him to make sure we had enough people to run the cows and operate the chute. Not a minute after I lock the door, a guy comes by to pick up his dog. (sigh) Doc drives around front to pick me up so I can lock up the clinic, and we get stopped by more people who want to make an appointment. We were about 15 minutes late getting to my grandparents place, which is literally about 30 seconds from the Sticksville clinic. It went smoothly. We told them how crazy our day was, and in there it was mentioned I hadn't gotten a lunch. By that time (3pm) I was past the hunger stage and only had about an hour or so left at work; I was fine.

Back at the clinic we actually had a small lull until our next appointment. Doc brought in nearly stale crackers he keeps in his truck, for me to snack on. Such a nice guy. About 3 crackers in, my grandmother pulls in. She had made me a sandwich, packed in a couple cookies and a soda. She is freaking awesome. I barely tasted the sandwich as I scarfed it. I didn't have time for the cookies though. I saved those for dessert after dinner.

The last hour was as crazy as our morning. If not worse. I lost track of how many times I had to call the main clinic in Town to run credit cards. Or how many times people wanted to pay cash and I had to grimace because I didn't have enough change. My cash box now owes two doctors money. Not kidding. We had appointments to see and people coming in to pick their surgery animals.

Doc told me to bring the Sticksville box to Town on Saturday. He had to leave and I still had paperwork to do. I left at 4:30 today, my entire body hurting. Head to toe. I have dirty kennels and cages to clean tomorrow, as I literally didn't have time to do them today. I have surgery packs to autoclave. I have mopping and general cleaning to do. Not to mention doing my money paperwork. I think I will have plenty to keep me busy for 3 hours.

So, if anyone sees Murphy, you know what to do.