With apologies to that Jeff Foxworthy guy, I saw a list of “how you know you’re a vet tech” today. Some of the things made me giggle; others made me go “huh?” But then, I’m not a vet tech.
But I was inspired to start my own list: you know you work with animals if…
- You pluck shed tufts or pick eye goobers off other people’s pets. I’m guilty of this one all the time. I can’t resist picking those eye goobers!
- You measure your own pets’ food very carefully. Since I started at the cats-only boarding facility, I’ve gotten a lot more precise about how much food Moose and Lally get.
- You see someone walking a dog (or a cat running around the apartment complex) and note breed and general body/health condition. I’m better at picking out breed when it comes to dogs, but I do pay attention to the general state of the dogs and cats in the neighborhood.
- You can name all your biggest/most prominent scars by the pet that gave them to you. I have a Chuck and a Misty on my right arm, and a Cali and a Napoleon on my left.
- A little pet hair doesn’t faze you. On your clothes, in your car, on the floor, in the bed… it’s everywhere. Life goes on. A lot of pet hair doesn’t really faze me anymore. I can handle tumbleweeds of shed — bring it on!
- You can make pictures by playing connect the dots with your scars. I’ve got three out of four points on a compass rose on the back of my right hand, for example, with a little spot in the center.
- You refer to someone’s children as puppies or kittens. This only happened to me once (so far) … but I spend so much time around animals that I bet the wrong word is going to slip out again!
- You refer to someone as a pet’s parent. Okay, I did this before I worked at the cats-only boarding facility. But it’s worse now. I ran into a client at a bookstore, and nearly blurted out, “Oh, you’re Jake’s dad!”
Any ideas for the list? Whether or not you work with animals, I want to hear them!