Worker Happiness

I don't believe it is as high as veterinarians.
  • Med school like debt
  • No where near doctor pay
  • Often see animal neglect first hand
  • Pet owners wanting euthanasia for convenience
  • Often terrible (long & odd) hours
We have friends whom the wife is a vet tech and my wife and I were just talking about how hard her schedule is on their family. Most nights not getting home until 6:30 or later for what I can only assume is not great pay and on your feet basically all day.
 
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I've worked in restaurants and I was miserable and everyone I've ever known that currently works in restaurants is fkn miserable. Many self-medicate with weed, alcohol, or worse...
 
Dentists work hard to save teeth rather than have to rip them out.

But they aren't always successful in that. Believe me I know. My BIL is a dentist on the Missouri/Kansas border.

ha - if your BIL was a shark you'd be tellin us how sharks don't WANT to eat people
 
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Not a lot of folks with teeth down there.
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I don't believe it is as high as veterinarians.
  • Med school like debt
  • No where near doctor pay
  • Often see animal neglect first hand
  • Pet owners wanting euthanasia for convenience
  • Often terrible (long & odd) hours

I think putting animals down would have to carry some weight too.

I know they signed up for it but after a while it has to be so much sadness.
 
I think putting animals down would have to carry some weight too.

I know they signed up for it but after a while it has to be so much sadness.
To an extent, I'm sure it requires developing "thick skin" and a need to consider it an unfortunate aspect of the profession, but approach it as clinically as possible. But I can't imagine it ever gets easier. You're dealing with both the grief of the owners and empathy/sadness for the pets.
 
To an extent, I'm sure it requires developing "thick skin" and a need to consider it an unfortunate aspect of the profession, but approach it as clinically as possible. But I can't imagine it ever gets easier. You're dealing with both the grief of the owners and empathy/sadness for the pets.
Yeah, and most who enter Vet Med are animal lovers to start with.
 
I don't believe it is as high as veterinarians.
  • Med school like debt
  • No where near doctor pay
  • Often see animal neglect first hand
  • Pet owners wanting euthanasia for convenience
  • Often terrible (long & odd) hours
GF is RVT. Can confirm.

For Techs its about as bad - all the above (less the debt) and $20 an hour if you're lucky. Plus its hard physical work! Throwing 90 lb dogs up on tables, getting bit, on your feet basically 95% of the time. Brutal.
 
Getting a little off track here, but years ago I had my appendix removed. When I met with the surgeon afterwards, he noticed that I worked at Iowa State.

The surgeon shared with me that he did his undergrad at Iowa State. Then he said he did his med school at the University of Iowa, but only because he couldn't get admitted into Iowa State's College of Veterinary Medicine.

I was just glad he shared that with me after my surgery rather than before. :)
 
Getting a little off track here, but years ago I had my appendix removed. When I met with the surgeon afterwards, he noticed that I worked at Iowa State.

The surgeon shared with me that he did his undergrad at Iowa State. Then he said he did his med school at the University of Iowa, but only because he couldn't get admitted into Iowa State's College of Veterinary Medicine.

I was just glad he shared that with me after my surgery rather than before. :)
Did you get a doggie biscuit after the surgery? :D
 
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how do we know these people weren't already happy when they started their career-less job in the public facing sectors of the world?

maybe these types of jobs attract these happy sickos?
 
I think putting animals down would have to carry some weight too.

I know they signed up for it but after a while it has to be so much sadness.

We had to take my German shepherd puppy to an emergency vet a few years ago because he got stung by bees (I think he was curious and trying to eat them actually) and his head swelled up like a pumpkin. They basically injected him with a lot of Benadryl and monitored the progress.

The emergency vets really fell in love with him in just 8 hours and I realized it must be gut wrenching to see some puppy like that come in and not make it or you have to put it down. It’s not like they just shrugged their shoulders at this pumpkin head puppy, they really loved him that quickly.
 
Getting a little off track here, but years ago I had my appendix removed. When I met with the surgeon afterwards, he noticed that I worked at Iowa State.

The surgeon shared with me that he did his undergrad at Iowa State. Then he said he did his med school at the University of Iowa, but only because he couldn't get admitted into Iowa State's College of Veterinary Medicine.

I was just glad he shared that with me after my surgery rather than before. :)

You know what they call the guy that barely squeaked by and graduated at the very bottom of his class from a poorly rated medical school right?


Doctor.
 
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We had to take my German shepherd puppy to an emergency vet a few years ago because he got stung by bees (I think he was curious and trying to eat them actually) and his head swelled up like a pumpkin. They basically injected him with a lot of Benadryl and monitored the progress.

The emergency vets really fell in love with him in just 8 hours and I realized it must be gut wrenching to see some puppy like that come in and not make it or you have to put it down. It’s not like they just shrugged their shoulders at this pumpkin head puppy, they really loved him that quickly.
That's exactly what those offices are like. They can have a half dozen "best day ever" experiences, and just as many "unimaginable tragedy gut punches" in a day.
 
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I don't believe it is as high as veterinarians.
  • Med school like debt
  • No where near doctor pay
  • Often see animal neglect first hand
  • Pet owners wanting euthanasia for convenience
  • Often terrible (long & odd) hours
The wife of one of my close friends is a vet. Years ago, while she was still in vet school,we were hanging out in a group of 3 or 4 couples one Saturday night, just having some drinks and playing board games. She was on call, so she wasn't really drinking, and sure enough at around 10pm, she got a call to come in to Vet Med for an emergency. After she left, the rest of us kept drinking and enjoying ourselves. Several hours later, when we we were all pretty drunk, she got back. She was wearing scrubs and was speckled head to toe with blood, with some larger spots of intense red. I remember her plopping down on the couch with this completely exhausted look about her, just staring. We asked if she was okay and she said yes, there had been an emergency heart surgery on a horse. She'd been in surgery for almost 3 hours. The horse didn't make it. I can't imagine how awful that must have been.