Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Hell hath no fury like a pissed-off blogger...

Ok, so I know this is not library-related, but it's about my cat, and it's a very librarian-ish thing to do to have a cat, so, by the transitive property of blogging, this is library-related, no? Anyway, yesterday I had to bring my cat to the vet to have her put to sleep, because she had FIP (Feline Infectious Peritonitis), which is 100% fatal and eventually causes their bodies to attack themselves, and all her organs had begun shutting down. Ridiculously sad, right?

So I call during the day yesterday to make an appointment for today, and they tell me they can take me that same day at 7pm. Not my first choice, because I definitely wanted more time to spend with her, but I know it is selfish to keep her suffering just for me, so I take the appointment. I leave work early and take her in the yard all afternoon, because she loves it there, and then take her right from the yard to the vets', so that her peaceful time outside will be her last memories.

When I get to the vets' office however, I am ignored and left waiting for AN HOUR, with no explainations and no apologies, and when my boyfriend finally has the NERVE to actually complain, the girl at the desk is rude to him and tells us it's our fault for not alerting them when we signed in why we were there. Gee, I'm sorry I'm a wreck because I'm having my beloved pet put down and just assumed that you had an appointment book somewhere with the reason for my visit, which I clearly stated when I made the appointment EARLIER THAT SAME DAY. And nowhere in all her blame-shifting and aggressiveness was there any sort of an apology. Then, when we are finally taken in the room and the procedure is underway, the girl is in the back with some other workers, laughing and joking around, and generally having a merry old time, despite the fact that we are now THE ONLY people left in the office, and she obviously knows what is going on in the room....ARGH!!!!!!!

So maybe there is some small lesson in here for librarians, or anyone who works with the public all day: BE NICE. If she had just apologized when we complained, and was nice to us, it would have ended there and I wouldn't be ranting to everyone I know about how I'm never going back there and how they should tell everyone they know not to ever go there. That's it, just be nice. Even when people are frustrated with you, be nice. Even if they are short with you, be nice.

As a matter of fact, I think Patrick Swayze said it best in roadhouse... Oh the wisdom of the Swayz...