I was reading the most interesting thread last night where people were talking about their profession and then throwing out one or two little known nuggets that might be interesting to people. I loved that (though the stories from the airline pilots were frightening.) So I figured hey, it’s Wednesday, why not share some lesser known tidbits about my own experiences with life in practice:
- I use less math than you’d think. The most complex calculations I need to do on a regular basis involve algebra for drug concentrations. All that “be good with math” stuff we tell little kids is just to have something inspirational to say. (Exception: the radiologists and oncologists do use some gnarly math.)
- The older tech who’s been there for 20 years is telling the new grad how to deal with your obstructed cat, so be nice to her.
- I have no idea when my pets are due for vaccinations. I rely on my staff to tell me.
- Half of what I learned in school a mere 10 years ago is now obsolete.
- The a$$hole tax does exist. It takes a lot to invoke it, but it happens.
- It is my belief that it’s only a matter of time before clinics stop carrying meds entirely. It’s your right to ask for a written prescription if you don’t want to get it at the vet.
- I’ve forgotten everything I ever knew about snakes. (Which wasn’t much to start with)
- A new vet coming out of school these days may have $150K + in loans, which these days often means fully half their starting salary goes to student loans. It’s a bit of a crisis we have brewing.
- Your success is dependent less on how you are with animals than it is on how you are with people. Oh, the irony.
OK, your turn! What do you do and what would surprise people about your profession? I am expecting some major enlightenment here.
My husband and I both work in television. Here are some of the popular myths of our profession…
1) Television is a glamorous job- if your idea of glamour is starting work at 2am, wearing a ball cap and jeans or hauling heavy cables through rat holes, then yes, it’s very glamorous. And don’t forget missing most holidays with your family because of work…totally glam!
2) TV is high paying- only if you are one of the few lucky on-air talents with pit bull agents. The behind the scenes folks usually start at minimum wage even with a degree.
3) TV is fun- absolutely true! Sometimes, it doesn’t even feel like work.
How cool! In what capacity do you work?
I work in computers, and we barely use any math either.
I think the only professions that do use math are mechanical engineers, and maybe accountants or statisticians or something like that.
Also, for all the myth of programmers being happiest when you lock them alone in a dark room and throw cheetos under the door every so often, teamwork and getting along with people is a *huge* deal. Nobody cares how awesome what you built is if you never understood what the customer wanted because you couldn’t talk to them.
Finally, I don’t know if this is a myth or just wishful/sloppy thinking, but knowing how to make computer programs and knowing how to use computer programs are completely different things. I don’t know how to use any of the settings on my home theatre system either. I call IT every time my email stops working, and I sure as heck don’t know why Word keeps doing that dumb thing with the formatting and loosing all your work. We tend to be somewhat proficient just because we’re used to sitting with a keyboard in our hands all day, but not nearly as above average as everyone seems to expect.
LOL! My husband is a programmer too, and I’m the one who does the routine maintenance (software updates/installations, system backup, iPhone sync/updates) on the computer around our house. I can totally relate to your last paragraph!
That last part makes me feel SO much better about myself. Because my computer makes me feel stupid every day.
Social work/Child welfare/foster care
We don’t always blame the parents/society. Sometimes things just happen.
We don’t take your kids away because you yell at them.
We work very long hours and often work holidays, weekends and evenings because at 5 o’clock kids don’t stop living.
We don’t make a lot of money and even on vacation we still think about the families and kids we work with, always.
Not every kid is a “bad kid” or a “sad kid”, we have success stories but because they are not tragic or thrilling no one ever wants to hear about them.
We are trained in everything from counseling to child development to medications and mental health. Family dynamics, diversity and culture.
Foster kids are still my kids even if they have different parents and even if i didnt give birth to them, I love them just as much as you love your kids so stop telling me “its different”.
Most of us do suck at math.
A lot of us don’t keep up with current events because we are too busy trying to keep up with policy changes and paper work. Don’t assume we know what is going on in the world and most times I can’t even give you a summery.
It has taken me over an hour to type this because i have taken 3 phone calls from several families.
Tabitha, thank you for what you do! You are an everyday hero.
Wow, true heroes. Thank you for doing work I know I never could.
Dr. V, I struggle with the whole meds issue. I know my vet’s office would strongly prefer that I get my meds from them. They have written prescriptions for me before when Shaq had cancer, and he needed drugs they didn’t have on hand. Don’t get me wrong, I love my vets, but I somehow feel that they would think less of me if I decided to ask to have my meds filled elsewhere.
As a tech, I fully agree that clients have the right to fill meds elsewhere. If we can get them a $4 deal at Target or Walmart when our price through our drug rep is higher, heck yes we’ll write a prescription.
However… sometimes we are frustrated when people want to fill them online, etc… because it is work for us that we don’t get paid for. Every few months we need to call and authorize refills, or fill out the faxed request. That means pulling the chart, having the doctor review it, sign off on it, and then we call or fax back. Most of the time so people can save just a few dollars… when we have the item on our shelf right now. (And we are a cheaply priced clinic.)
I think I have to do a whole post about this. To summarize- I agree with Leigh. It IS a pain. That being said, that has no bearing on how we should react to the request, and I really think anyone who gets where things are going would be well-served to get their clinic up to speed on making it not a pain. Because that is what clients are demanding, more and more, and I don’t blame them.
I am astonished at the debt that veterinary students rack up in school. I thought that I had it bad with only $40,000 in student loans. It’s really a sad state of affairs.
I have been working in the “pet loss” field for 10 years now. I never intended to do this, but it has worked out to be a great career! I started out as a secretary for the Argus Institute at Colorado State University, but as a secretary for that group – you get involved in the cases. I’ve attended and helped with more pet euthanasias than I can count, been the human present for many animals who had owners who couldn’t stay with them for a euthanasia, made countless ClayPaws prints… And now, working for World by the Tail (the ClayPaws folks) I get to be the person who creates their websites (www.veterinarywisdom.com), manages the blog, and generally gets to help folks out with their difficult times during pet loss.
It’s a good job, though some days it can be sad. I do love having a job that really feels like I’m helping people through something difficult! I think people are very often surprised when I tell them what I do for a living. It’s a very odd little niche, but such an important one! (Oh yeah, and I don’t use math much either. Once in a while, I have to add up a few columns on a website page to make sure they equal the total width of the table… but that’s just about it!)
I love what you do. Such an important job. 😀
Thanks Dr. V! We think it’s pretty important too!!
Thank you for what you do. Thank you for being the last loving caring person animals see. It can’t be easy. Thank you so much.
MD with specialty in geriatrics:I don’t use math much at work BUT I make my patients who average 92 years old do serial sevens subtractions from 100 as part of evaluating their brain function.Being a doctor is also very unglamorous-we probably spend the majority of our time doing paperwork,and another third dealing with unreasonable demands and expectations.
I just saw them going that 100-7 thing on Greys Anatomy- hah! I was wondering if they really do that. And I realized I would be kind of slow at it too. :/
And by the way, thank you for the work you do and taking care of our lovely elderly.
The debt thing scares me sooo much. I’m just entering first year this August at North Carolina State University, and while it’s definitely more affordable that many other vet schools I looked at, I’m still an out of state student for the first year, and it’s still a lot of money! Plus, I want to do a residency after that. Eek!
I’ve been following the debt discussion on VIN and places like dvm360 with astonishment. It’s really a crisis these days. 250K in debt for some of the private school grads- without a 6 figure salary to pay it off. Egads.
I am thankful that my husband will be working while I’m in vet school. It will help us not take out the maximum amount of loans.
I currently work as a Project Assistant for a bunch of engineers that build things. I get strange looks all the time when I say I work in construction 🙂
Of course, I love reminding people that they like fresh water and love to flush as water treatment is a large part of our work.
And I have to admit, I get a little frustrated with the cost of meds, but the cost of everything is up right now, so try not to complain about it.
And the only person I know that uses math daily, is someone with a math degree, like my hubby.
Who doesn’t love to flush? 😀
I’m a medical researcher. I’ve worked in every theraputhic field there is: cancer, genomics, marijuana, stem cells, animal testing, even a breif stint with cocaine (investigating sigma receptors).
1. I love math and use math several times a day, so kids DO study math. You can write little macros and programs to do your math all day, but if the computers are down, what are you going to do?/ Pack up for the day? Study math.
2. In drug discovery poster sessions, we don’t have free samples. Ask the pharm-reps for that 🙂
3. Ego’s are big no matter what field you are in, people skills will get you further day-to-day than anything else.
4. Researchers love animals. We aren’t cruel or cold to our test subjects. For long term rodent studies we have to hand tame them and it really does make us sad to have to end their little lives so that we can study systemic effects of therapy, but we do, with as much dignity and as little suffering as possible so that we can try to help people. This end is why the animals were bred, these guys would not survive out in the world, and their death may help millions of people and animals to not feel pain, to not suffer, to live to see their 5th birthday.
5. To kids in college: try the field in a real internship setting first. It really isn’t for everyone. This is not a 9-5 glamourous high paying job. This is a dirty, 60-hour week type job. I have a degree and my little brother makes 5x what I make and he has a GED. I get federal holidays, but somehow it doesn’t always seem a fair trade.
6. Half my time is spent reading journals so that I can attempt to stay current. Even the basics can change overnight. I had a verbal altercation at a meeting with a man becuase I told him something that was true at the moment, but hadn’t been a year ago. I told him something and he accused me of lying, of skewing the facts. I presented the evidence and cited the papers and he still yelled and fumed that I was lying. See point #3.
A big fat AMEN to everything you wrote!!
BTW now I am worried you all think I am anti-math. I LOVE math. Numbers are beautiful. They train your mind to think. I love them. I just don’t use them as much as I thought I would. 😀
I was a bank teller. We hardly use math, either. I personally suck at math. (Counting doesn’t count. Especially when you have that machine that spits out the amount of money you tell it to.)
Being a bank taller is basically being a cashier. I used to think it was this big, important job, but no. Just a cashier, only no products to scan.
The branch itself processes your ATM deposit. At least in part. One bank I worked at opened all the envelopes, took out the money and replaced it with a piece of paper that said how much money was in there, then sent it off to the back office for processing. Another bank just took them out and did them like regular transactions. Except for the stand-alone ATMs. If you can’t access the back of the ATM from the branch, it’s serviced by those armored truck guys. Also, if you hit the ATM because it’s not working, chances are it’s because I’ve just turned it off to take out the deposits or put more cash in it. And I can see you. I always want to say in a computerized voice “Oww, don’t hit me!”
The bank doesn’t have as much cash on hand as you think. In the safe, maybe $200k. The ATMs only hold about $75k each, and if the tellers have those cash dispensers, I think they can hold about $200k, but they are hardly ever stuffed full. Maybe half. And they take a 2-person key/code to get them open. on a timer.
Bank tellers get yelled at VERY often for checking ID. I don’t get it. I sort of understood it as a cashier, cuz hardly any store does it, but at the bank? Oh, sure, I’ll just let anyone who walks in have your money.
Thanks for always checking ID! someone forged my visa once and took out 10,000 dollars cash!!! and no one check the ID of the person to see if it was me. I was lucky it was resolved and i didnt have to pay it back. but it could have been avoided.
Hi Y’all,
I knew a young vet forced to give up her dream in order to pay off debt. Between debt and taxes she did not have enought money to pay room rent (not an apartment), food and fuel for their car.
As for perscriptions, I got one from our small animal vet one time and they charged me more for the perscription than I saved.
Have to go now. Need to practice those serial seven subtractions from 100. Anyone know how low they go?
BrownDog’s Human
Wow, that is really sad. I think that is going to happen more and more, though.
I think in the next few years it will become illegal to charge for writing a prescription. I don’t think that is a fair thing to do.
Hmm, well, I’m a retired teacher, former vet tech, and now a beekeeper’s wife. I keep the books (yep, math), help out in the bee yards as needed, and run lots of errands. What people don’t know about commercial beekeeping: we are like migrant workers – we move the bees several times a year – summer in Michigan, fall in Georgia, winter in California, spring back to Georgia and Michigan…. Also, forklifts and flatbed trucks are tools we use every day! People are always fascinated to hear about what we do.
Cool! I had no idea about that with beekeeping…
I work in IT at a major university.
1. I don’t use math every day, but when I do use it I have to be exact.
2. IT is another field where things move fast. I am constantly reading, researching, and getting certifications.
3. One new discovery can change my whole industry, and make my knowledge obsolete.
4. I do not sympathize when I have to reset your password for the nth time. I have to remember 20+ work passwords, plus my own personal ones.
5. If your computer is acting up, or frozen, turn it off, unplug it for 5 minutes, plug it back in and restart. 95% of the time this will fix the problem.
6. While computers are machines, and the programs are based in math, diagnosing and repairing both are more intuition and research. You can be fabulous at math and not be able to fix either.
7. Our biggest challenge is dealing with people, because people fear technology and change and take that fear out on us.
8. In my current job I have to know 10 scripting languages, 15 server and desktop operating systems, 50+ programs and applications, how to diagnose and repair a multitude of laptops, desktops, printers and servers, I must implement upgrades, train end users on changes, conduct security audits, the list goes on and on..
9. Whatever we get paid, it’s not enough. Really.
I feel your pain!!! I’m our Level I/II site tech at my school (I’m also a high school teacher–it’s kind of an odd job) and boy can I identify with most of these. #7 is the most frustrating for me, because I work with teachers, and they’re supposed to be open-minded and learners by nature. But they’re sometimes the worst about throwing up their hands and declaring defeat rather than thinking something through… SO frustrating.
I’m a student now, but just spent six years as a security manager for a global company:
1. Most security officers are extremely smart. Most of my staff was working their way through college, had degrees in their home country, or had MENSA level IQs but enjoyed the work.
2. No one says, “I want to be a guard one day.” Life happens. You take the job because you need money. Then it sucks you in.
3. We come early, stay late, work through breaks, miss lunch. That’s a normal day. We do it because we care about your safety and security; you’re “our people” and we want to protect you.
4. We get mad when you break rules not because of “power trips” but because we know why the rules are there: to prevent terrorist attacks, stop gunmen, deter thieves, keep the coworker’s crazy ex-husband away from her. But we’re not allowed to say that so we don’t scare you. And those things happen EVERYDAY. We see them.
5. We don’t think you’re dumb when you call and it turns out to be nothing.
6. We get yelled at, cursed, spat on, condescended to, mocked, belittled, or have food thrown at us every day. We protect you anyway.
7. We fight with your company against policies that expose you to danger or expose your property to theft and when they don’t listen, we figure out ways to keep you safe or take the blame for failing.
8. We do it all with very little money or resources, amid con@tantalizing cut backs because no one spends money on security until its too late.
9. We make peanuts.
10. We protect you anyway. We are your first line of defense against terrorists and criminals, your first responders to natural disasters, the first calm voice you will ever hear. And we’re happy to do it.
I work at a doggie day care/boarding kennel (a large chain). It’s the best and the worst job I’ve ever had.
1. To the managers, you – and therefore your dogs – are walking dollar signs. To the staff who actually stand in the room all day and supervise the doggy playtimes, your dogs are dogs. If you really want to know what happens to your dog while you’re away, talk to the staff, not the managers with the big smiles who only work the registers.
2. The best customers are those who both trust us to take care of the dogs but still ask a lot of (relevant) questions. Ask us how your dog did that particular day. Ask if he made friends, or got into a scrap with another dog. And ask if he was bored or scared out of his mind, or is really anti-social. We’re not allowed to volunteer that information unless there’s an actual dog fight (see #1, re: walking dollar signs), but there are plenty of dogs who board or come regularly to day camp who really shouldn’t be there because they are stressed out of their minds the whole time. Know your own dog.
3. I may be very good with dogs, but I’ve had 9+ years of experience. Many of my coworkers are just-out-of-high-school and their experience with animals is entirely comprised of taking the family dog for walks. Don’t trust us entirely until we’ve proven we’re trustworthy.
Like I said, best and worst job ever. I love love love working with dogs, but the company I’m with is pretty terrible. I do my best, but not everyone I work with does. There’s a reason I stopped bringing my dog to camp two months after I started working there.
medical transcriptionist for many years. hated being in a windowless room the size of an elevator. No human interaction and lots of stress and pressure. Now a secretary receptionist for MDs specializing in geriatrics. Love it! Nothing better than being able to make a sad looking elderly person smile when I ask them if they’d like a hug-which they eagerly accept. I have learned so much from our patients, they love to talk about their past experiences and give advice regarding things from home repairs, to animal care, knitting and cooking. We even have a real Rosie the Riveter! Though the pay is not nearly as good as my former job, I look forward to going to work every day.
I’m a medical librarian and work in two hospitals. That’s #1 – some hospitals do have libraries and need librarians! (it’s a requirement for teaching hospitals)
#2 – everything is not on Google, nor is everything free. Come see me. I have magic librarian skills that can get you the information you’re looking for.
#2 a – If you believe everything is free and on the internet and close the hospital library, don’t take it out on me when you have to re-open it less than a year later when the residency accrediting board cites you for not having a library.
#3 – Yes, I have to have a master’s degree for this job. I’ve also done specialized training in several areas to keep up with the changing medical field. Often at my own expense.
#4 – There are no stupid questions. If everyone could find articles or information as quickly as I could, I would be out of a job.
#5 – I don’t sit around and read books all day or surf the web all day. Some days I wish I did, but 99% of the time I love my job.
#6 – I specialized in medical and hospital libraries in grad school. Yes, I could work in a public library or an academic library, but I was trained to “speak doctor.” That and my 9 years as a medical research coordinator help a lot.
Wow–your job sounds absolutely fascinating!! I’ve toyed several times going the librarian route, but right now I love what I’m doing. Maybe in the future, though–I love research, problem-solving, trouble-shooting, and helping people. So who knows. 🙂