No Respect at the Animal Clinic

I was picking up my beloved Vyncent at the vet (ok, gag now on the fact that I have become a kooky cat person) and I was struck by how little respect people give the vet office staff.

One seemingly normal person (until you notice all the dog hairs on her black pants and her fidgety hands) started talking aloud: "Geeze, you know ... almost a $1,000 to clean and remove teeth of two dogs is just too much".

Now, when people go to the doctor, they never complain about the co-payment to the receptionist.

The woman went on to say that she was out of work. I gazed up at the bold placard that declared "Payments for Services Are Due When They Are Rendered" (or some other overly verbose phrase that distilled to 'Pay Up for the Pup'.

La Complainer scanned the room for a sympathetic ear. The young boy who was sitting on the floor stacking up the cans of dog food on the display until they were precariously taller than him - did not care in the least.

As this was going on, another dog owner was on a cell phone complaining about how much the vet was charging her.

I certainly wasn't ecstatic about shelling out $271 for all the procedures, but I knew that was what was in store when I agreed to get a cat.

If this was a movie, the dog woman would have finally turned towards me and said, "I'm just saying this so you'll write about me in your blog."

And I would have said, "Well, cats are cheaper and less work"

As I was thinking this, the vet assistant walked out carrying two small dogs that were both attached to on leash like an iPod with a split headphone jack for two sets of furry earplugs.

Admist the complaining, imagining and transfer of said dogs, I looked out onto Union Square - at the somewhat dilapitated furniture store across the street that was advertising 5 piece bedroom sets for $899 in garish blue and red painted block letters on the window. To the left, I could see some of the skyscrapers of downtown Boston looming in the horizon over the facade of the working class - for the moment - block of mom and pop businesses.

I was thinking about how my last day at my work was ahead of me. Although the new job seemed to be a good challenge I knew I would be leaving a lot of smart, honestly nice people.

Vyncent emerged in her carrier. Her yellow eyes were dilated and pulsing a bit as she took in the noise of the passing cars, the lights and smells of the city and as we both thought about where we were goiong and where we had been.