The hostile work environment, professional sabotage and unethical veterinary practices I faced at my first job as an equine practitioner in private practice made the first 6 months a living hell. After working over 100 hours per week, my boss’s vengeful decision to “punish” me by withholding my paycheck, brought me to the breaking point. Against the advice from my family, and with the support of my friends and colleagues, I quit my first job without a 2 week notice. If having profane names yelled at me wasn’t enough, my boss then told me “I know all the vets in this area. You’re never going to be an equine vet in this state.” My assertive response was “Not you, or anyone, will ever stop me from being an equine vet.”
2 months later
By October, I was hired as an associate at a multi-doctor equine private practice that not only has a phenomenal reputation and rapport with the equine community, but also has a “work family” atmosphere. Although I knew my previous job was horrendous, I didn’t realize how terrible it was until I started at my new job. Better hours, better pay, respect, benefits (health, retirement), mentors, the opportunity to be my own doctor, strong support staff, emphasis on the highest standard of care, safe/reliable work truck…for the first couple months I felt like it was too good to be true. I was waiting for the facade to come down, but now 6 months into my new job, and this is sincerely, genuinely the wonderful place I work.
One reply on “Luckiest vet in the world”
I was prompted to read your blog post about the honeymoon stage with “Dr. Cray” by a WordPress notice and my heart went out to you because I have also had to deal with passive-agressive and agressive bosses. Your follow-up post made me smile because it seems like natural justice is making its play.
You have an engaging way of writing and a number of your posts would make excellent chapters in a novel I hope you write one day.
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