In the advent of Google Plus, I've been reconnecting with old friends - mostly friends from high school and college that I'd lost touch with over the years. The result is that I receive a daily dose of the most eclectic posts you could imagine, from the epic destruction of a video game boss to Star Wars ice cream to baby pictures, book reviews, celebrity gossip, and work stories from a plethora of industries. One of my friend's recent posts was entitled 'You have worked too long in the veterinary industry when . . . ' and it included such tidbits as:
- - You look at a cardboard box and recognize its coffin potential.
- - You go out to a club and the black light comes on, you check yourself for ringworm.
- - All of your pets are either 3 legged, lame, or blind in one eye.
- - You can detect maggots at 100 paces, just by the smell.
- - After seeing what goes in the washing machine at work, your own laundry doesn't seem so dirty.
- - You can play connect the dots with all of your patient-related scars and puncture wounds.
- - Your work clothes look like your pajamas.
I've spared you the graphic ones, but most of them left me with a scrunched nose and a deep appreciation for veterinary professionals who dedicate their lives to ensuring that our beloved pets stay happy, healthy, and strong. As if that wasn't enough, they do it with very little gratitude from their patients. When your patients regularly gift you with more pee than praise, you should at least be well protected. Her last point in particular speaks to the fact that the vast majority of medical professionals are expected to do miraculous things in pajamas - or rather, scrubs that aren't much better than pajamas.
However, I'd like to think that we prove that not all scrubs are created equal. I recently received an email from Julie Pearson, a veterinary customer who stated,
"Our job can get pretty dirty, when we clean abscesses, wounds, draw blood or get urine samples . . . we also spend a lot of time on our knees doing physical exams on dogs. Your scrubs are perfect. Blood stains wash off with cold water. The colors and the quality of the fabric stay the same, wash after wash. I have been wearing your scrubs for more than a year, and they get washed every week. They still look brand new!"
I think I'll send my friend a pair of Medelita
scrubs for veterinarians in our new Caribbean Blue color. Definitely a far cry from pajamas. I don't think she'll mind taking that one off her "worked too long" list. Perhaps she'll even brag about it on Google Plus.
