The Worst Interview EVER!

So I've been gone since Sunday and have returned home in time to go on call tomorrow morning. Exciting, but that's the life I lead.
I wasn't out of town doing anything particularly thrilling. No OC (Ocean City) for us this year-unless I can find a weekend to steal away in May. What I was doing was looking for a new job. I returned to a practice I interviewed at 2 years ago in Wisconsin and then I had an interview in South Central Missouri, for which I may have been overly excited.

Packing for only carryon luggage is hard especially when going on interviews for which you are trying to be prepared. Rubber boots, coveralls, khakis, shirts, white coat, socks, underwear, pajamas, scrub top and then all the things you think you might need-thermal underwear, long sleeve shirts, hoodies, extra jeans. Then you realize the giant pile of clothes will not fit into your suitcase. At this point, I checked the weather and decided that it wasn't going to be cold enough to warrant long johns, more than one hoodie and I'd just have to wear the same jeans on multiple days. There was lots of tight rolling of clothes and stuffing underwear and socks into spare shoes. I somehow managed to get the suitcase closed. Then there was the ordeal of the second carryon. Initially, I was just going to take my purse which is large and would easily hold my vet bag stuff (minus the like $50 in coins and sharp pointy objects-read-pocket knife I've never used.) Then I thought that I might want to bring my laptop for some blogging I intended on doing.  So then I had to change bags and ended up with two very heavy ones.

Then Sunday morning, I got up super early. Joe happened to wake up too and decided to drive me to the airport which was nice. I got the the ticket counter and was told I was at the wrong one. Then I couldn't get the self check out thing to work prompting assistance from the ticket agent. Apparently, it wasn't working because my ticket wasn't paid for. SHOCKING! because I had bought the tickets a week earlier through Priceline. So I had to buy a nearly $300 ticket to get me to Milwaukee-my first destination of three. From there, flying was pretty routine. There was some turbulence between Harrisburg and Chicago as well as a practical joke from the pilot but it was all handled well. I eventually got to Milwaukee, got lost, ate some Culver's, bought some groceries (remembering the bad restaurant near the hotel) and then made it to Wittenberg.

Monday's interview went pretty well. I get along fantastically with the two owners of the practice and their practice only seems to have good places to go. They are building a new clinic because their small animal side has outgrown their current one. It was a good day. My only reservation is now that it is Wisconsin. Granted, it was raining and chilly the whole time I was there. They are about one month behind spring wise as well.

Tuesday, I spent traveling. A drive back to Milwaukee, a flight to Chicago, a flight to STL and then a drive down to see my grandparents. From there, I drove across southern Missouri to my next interview. It was really pretty and looked a lot like Pennsylvania. I got to the vet's house and ate dinner with him and his wife. I was holding up pretty good hopes for this practice-it was in a nice area, it was in Missouri, there was lots of houses/land for sale at reasonable prices. As the evening went on, I wasn't thinking that things were going all that well. You have to understand that when vets get together, its a lot of one-upmanship. Who saw the most appointments. Who convinced the difficult client to spend money. Who did the most difficult surgery, saw the craziest emergency, etc, etc. Even in two years, I have some pretty good stories. We discussed some things that I had seen and I realized I was being questioned about how I treated things. But not in a constructive manner. It was more like this:
DR-I give lots of dogs with diarrhea an injection of cortisone.
Me-I don't do that.
DR-Why not?
Me-?? (Okay, I don't have a good reason not to EXCEPT that steroids can actually cause diarrhea. There is a place and time for their use in diarrhea but just willy-nilly is not something I do.)
Then I was told that I wasn't doing any favors for my clients by not running CBCs on parvo dogs or bloodwork on milk fevers. What?
I was already feeling like this was going poorly when I went to bed that night. I wondered if sneaking off would be professional. I decided to wait it out. He might be argumentative but maybe he had a great bedside manner or was a great doctor.

In the morning, I walked over to the clinic with the vet and his wife, who worked as an office manager. The office was a metal building with nice landscaping next to the highway. There were some cattle working facilities and a garage. Inside though, it smelled like cat piss. I kid you not. And the whole clinic was super dated-dated and dirty. All of the linoleum was pitted and torn. In one office, there was carpet from the '70s that was torn and stained. Dog fur was everywhere. The ceiling tiles were stained with cobwebs and dog fur clinging to it especially around the air vents. There was stuff everywhere too.

I also noted an abundance of outdated drugs. For instance, the oldest one I noted expired in 1986. Yes, it was old enough to drink, old enough to rent a car. How efficacious can that be? How safe? Then I noted one from 1991. This particular drug is readily available so there would be no reason to keep an expired partial bottle. Then I noted at least a half dozen expired bottles of vitamin B. Vitamin B isn't really all that stable. At least not stable enough to be hanging around nearly 10 years after the expiration date.

I watched a couple of appointments-I wasn't introduced, I didn't have much input on how the particular case could be handled, I didn't get to do anything. (Also, keep in mind, I am licensed to practice in Missouri so it would be completely okay for me to perform veterinary medicine in nearly all capacities.) And the appointments were quick and vaccines all given in the scruff. Eventually, we'd get around to doing surgery-because surgery was done when there was time, it explained why the animals spend the night. There were a couple of spays and an enucleation. No catheters were placed, no fluids ran. I pretty much flat out refused to do surgery because I was appalled by the anesthetic protocol. (It could have its benefits but there were some areas that needed improvement.)

We went out and vaccinated some horses. I was treated to a demonstration on how to draw blood and give vaccines to a fractious horse. I don't know why he chose a mule to demonstrate this on. And again, I've been a vet for two years. I know how to vaccinate and draw blood. Ugh.

A few more appointments were seen. I asked if they had the 4dx SNAP test (it tests for heartworm disease, lyme disease, anaplasmosis and erlichia) and was told no because it misses several tick borne disease-which it does. And then there was something about a dog needing to have two tick borne diseases before seeing clinical signs. (I didn't understand what was being said here so I didn't argue it. I know for a fact that a dog can have one disease (such as lyme) and have horrible clinical signs. Enough that they get euthanized for it!)

Eventually, the day would wrap up and I was back to being grilled. I was told that that he wanted a vet that would make him money, a vet that should be in it not only to help animals but to make money. Okay. I was ridiculed for doing my clients a disservice because I try not to answer the question 'what would you do if this was your pet?'. (I believe my job to be to educate the client on all the options, give them the best option and then work with what the client chooses. If I go with 'if this was my pet', it may not be the best choice for the client and their animal. It may be self serving of me. And I believe I need to keep my objectivity.) I was again told that my methods of treatment were no good. My philosophy on euthanasia was brought into question. It was then discussed that we'd see how well I worked cattle tomorrow and then I said I would be leaving that night. He said he thought so and asked why. I told him that I didn't think our philosophies on veterinary medicine would work very well. He said he knew he was argumentative but I was close minded and unreceptive to change. Well, if its presented to me as an argument, no, no, I'm not receptive to change because you make me defensive. Its a two way street. I was on the verge of tears when I left. He wouldn't let it go.

So I left and felt great about it. The knot in my stomach which had actually started the night before unwound itself. I blindly drove north. I ate some Sonic. I drove through the pouring rain to St. Louis where I holed up in Motel 6. In the rain, I realized, I was nearly blind. I hung out in Motel 6, did some shopping and then ate dinner with  my MOH, Amberle. I then flew back home so I could be on call.

We'll not be moving to Missouri needless to say. If a vet acts that way when they are interviewing someone, imagine how they'd be as a boss? Ugh, it makes my stomach hurt. (Elements of this interview reminded me of this blog. You should check it out regularly. Its got some gems we all can relate to.)