when i was younger i loved animals. i thought i wanted to be a vet. i begged my parents for a dog on every birthday. i dreamed of living on a farm. then i read James Herriot's books and i changed my mind about being a vet.

(on a completely side note, i was completely disillusioned to find out that James Herriot's bosses' names were not really Tristan and Siegfried, but rather Donald and Brian)

but i always had a dream of working with animals or owning some real pets (real means with fur, lives outside water, and recognizes its owner-that excludes fish, frogs, turtles, chickens, ducks, birds, and rocks)

today when i took my pet to the vet, i sat in the waiting room with four pet owners, all who were holding leashes with dogs at the ends, and some of my old dreams of taking care of animals resurfaced.

but i have to say; the vets in that place are all weird.

the girl who works at the front desk has a falsetto cheery voice that totally gets under my skin. when i walk in she says "hi! who do we have here?" i always feel grumpy when i talk to her. i mumble my pets name-mind you, if i tell her my last name, she won't know what I'm talking about. they only have the pets' names in the appointment book-in fact, the only names on the files are the pets' names. the first time i went to the vet, a girl (what do they call assistant vets?) came to the waiting room with a file, and called my pet's name "that's me" i mumbled again "doctor will see you now" she led me to a room and left me with my pet to wait for the vet. on the way, i heard the vet call for help in room three-a dog had thrown up all over the floor.

the vet that I've seen every time, calls my pet all sorts of horrible sweet names, and the assistants are slightly creepy teenagers with many piercings and in desperate need of haircuts. they lurk around the room, and don't really do anything except make me nervous. this past visit, i couldn't be sure if the assistant was a guy or a girl.

so i left the vet today feeling slightly creeped out, with an emptier wallet, and a glad feeling that I'm helping people get better, not animals. i think it takes more social skills to give a patient their daily medicine or provide am cares, than it does to bandage the tail of a dog, or diagnose a dog with end stage renal failure.