The Indeed post says only this:
Kennel attendant / veterinary assistant: “Help in kennel taking care of dogs and helping doctors, and all other duties assigned by managers and doctor's”
(Yes, doctor's, not doctors)
Working at this small hospital in this position was HELL. I went to the emergency room for a panic attack for the first time in my life after a shift. I was so demoralized working here that I have avoided thinking or talking about it until now when I realize, maybe getting this off my chest here will help me heal and move on.
Here is what happened to me, an unwitting young woman who applied to be a kennel technician:
• Red flag #1: I was invited to interview after applying online. When I arrived, they had me fill out a completely new application on paper, having only heard of me for the first time after I walked in the door.
• During my interview with the head doctor, he looked over my written app (which was unfinished, because I had only a minute to complete it).
He asked what I would like to make per hour.
I told him that their ad on Indeed specified a $12-$18 range, and I wanted the $18 because it was $3 more than what I was currently making, and I had a degree in communications.
His response:
“I respect education. Because you have a bachelor's degree, I will give you 18.”
He wrote “18” on the back of my paper application, hired me, and left.
• Fast forward 2 weeks after training when I got my first check (paper check, they do not direct deposit) my rate was $14/hr. I marched to the accountant's office, and told her that there was a mistake, I was supposed to be making $18/hr.
Her response:
“No, the doctor never starts anyone out at $18/hr. Everyone starts out at $12/hr, your $14/hr rate is actually a mistake.”
She did not believe me when I told her the doctor and I agreed on a rate. She forces me to go to him directly.
He does not back me up, nor believe me when I tell him that HE said and wrote down the rate we agreed on. He even said that I have no proof because he does not have my paper application anymore.
I tell him that I am going to quit, because I left a $15/hr job for this one. His solution is to reluctantly bump me up $1 more, as long as I “don't tell the other girls.”
• The “other girls,” are these unfriendly, unhelpful, ice queens straight out of high school doing the work of an entire hospital with only a staff of 4 per shift, making $12/hr. And here I was, thinking that I was going to be in the kennel working with animals the whole time, when actually, that was a deceitful title meant to lure unsuspecting people to do the work for the front desk, vet assistance, pre op, room prep, pharmacy, janitorial duties, grooming and boarding, kennel, and washing the doctors' coffee mugs.
•No lunch break. If you were caught eating in the hallway, you were given warnings.
•No clock-out time. It could be creeping up on 9:00pm, and second shift would have to ask someone in charge if they could leave. For the record, there was no manager on shift at this time because she got to leave at a decent and consistent time every night. We just approached the girl with the most experience at the time. Everytime I asked her to go home, she would inspect the hospital for something for me to do first, sometimes, she would frame a question like, “If you wanna maybe….” to which, the answer from me was always a resounding NO.
• The phone would ring nonstop, and no matter if you were helping another patient, walking a dog, or taking a break to piss, you were expected to answer it. Because of COVID, the hospital required you to call first in order to come in the waiting room. This meant that phonecalls to come inside were mixed in with calls about medication refills, making appointments, literally people asking me to diagnose their pet over the phone, and so forth.
It got so bad one night, that the ringing of the phone just never stopped. The doctors got annoyed and told us to answer them, one of the girls said that we are, there's just not enough of us.
They decided to hold a mandatory unpaid meeting about the importance of answering phones.
• The doctors never learned my name. We signed everything into the computer using our initials. My initials are AKM, and when someone with the initials ALM made frequent mistakes, I got written up for it.
• Finally- I was expected to do things I was not qualified to do nor comfortable doing i.e., filling prescriptions!!!
For reference, I went to college and got my degree in pointing a video camera, editing the video, and posting it.
And here I was, with a prescription label for phenobarbitol in one hand, and 2,000 bottles of medication in an open pharmacy in front of me. Phones are ringing. People are impatient. The doctors want me to count 125 tabs of the controlled subtstance and sell it to a family with a sick pet.
Needless to say, I left on ethical grounds.
I asked myself how I would feel if I knew that a videography student was the one picking out and counting my animal's seizure medication because the hospital is so criminally understaffed?
Fuck that place, and it's deceitful job description.