3 years ago when I was 21 I got a job at an animal hospital as a veterinary assistant for $10.50 an hour. (Doctor's start at 150k a year there.) I thought this was good at the time because I was young and living with my parents.
Holy shit how fucking wrong was I. I loved my job at first, I was learning tons of new things, there was always something to do and I just generally enjoyed it. Fast forward a year later and I'm having full blown suicidal thoughts because my job was so ass. With such a high turnover rate and being an emergency hospital, we were slammed and short staffed constantly. I would bust my ass from the moment I got there til the moment I left. Assisting in surgery prep, monitoring surgeries, dentals, bloodwork, helping doctors, taking their rooms, waking up patients from anesthesia, and many, many more things. Not only did I have to work on the floor, I had to work as a receptionist, in the phone room, in the exam rooms and in kennel, because they were so unbelievably short staffed.
Everyday I'd have to fight with my supervisor for a 30 minute unpaid break. It got to the point where I walked out of surgery during just so I could eat so I wouldn't pass out. When I came back the doctor asked how I was doing and I completely bursted into tears.
These people completely abused their support staff and expect them to just take it. Staff would get angry and yell or hit animals. The main doctor would euthanize dogs without propofol, causing me to have a panic attack because I'd still hear a heart beat but be rushed to throw them in a bag then into the freezer.
Then I started to find out that people who were hired after me with no experience were getting paid more, when I asked for a raise they said I had to wait for my year review even though I was doing 100000x the normal work I should be.
The final straw was not recieving our radiation reports. First of all, I had no idea these even existed. We wore badges to measure the amount of radiation we were exposed to, that way if you were overexposed, they'd stop you from doing xrays for a while. But that's not what they did, they hid the reports and reprimanded us when we asked for them. I even called the company of our badges to report this was happening. I asked my supervisor who was there for 7 years if she had ever seen a radiation report for herself, she said no. I was scared, I was always in the xray room because of how short staffed we were. My hands have been in those xrays because we'd be in such a rush, that we'd get yelled at for putting on protection. They didn't even have vests for the dental area for the xrays in there.
I gave them my two weeks after having a doctor write me a letter of recommendation. I walked out a week early because an exam room assistant was talking shit under her breath and I called her out because I couldn't take it anymore. I asked her why she has to talk like that and what her problem was in front of everyone. She got angry and was pulled out of the room. I threw my badges on the floor and walked out.
I know how hard it is for people working at vet clinics. Workers are EXTREMELY underpaid and overworked. I just wanted to let you know that I hear you and hope it'll change in the future. As for me, I will never step foot in a vet setting again. I left out a bunch of stuff, but I try not to think about it anymore because it was just so awful.