Some years ago, I was fresh out of veterinary technician school and just started at my first job. It was this tiny clinic next door to a very seedy motel. My supervisor asked me to clean up around the outside of the building while we had some downtime. I started picking up trash and I started finding so much drug paraphernalia. I could deal with the spoons, but I drew the line when I nearly picked up an uncapped needle.
I told my supervisor what happened and she said to tell the practice manager, Sharon. I went into her office and politely told her that I was not willing to pick up trash when there were uncapped needles outside. She says, “You're dealing with needles inside all day long. Is this really so different?”
I was flabbergasted. I said, “Those are clean needles [inside]. If I were to poke a dog and then accidentally poke myself, I couldn't get hepatitis. I couldn't get AIDS.” She gave me this little smirk that screamed “I believe that you believe what you're saying is important.” I threw up my hands in frustration and shouted, “You can't get AIDS from a dog, Sharon!”
She continued to smirk then said, “Nobody else is refusing to do this. You should really be more of a team player if you want to continue your employment here.”
I excused myself from the situation and ended up being “let go” for some BS about two weeks later. The clinic closed 2 years later.