Hello all! This is my fourth and final essay for my English Composition I Class. I'm so happy! This essay was a little different than the others, in that it was supposed to be based all on observations and interviews, and on no research and no past experience (unless used as flashbacks). It also had a more limited word count--only 750-1000 instead of 1200+. But I had a blast doing my very fist interview as the interviewer, and had a lot of fun writing this as well. It earned an A (95%) from my teacher.
Part of the Family
The Watkins
Veterinary Clinic sign greeted me as I pulled up in front of the small,
smart-looking building. The remembrance
of my first experience at this vet clinic warmed my heart. My dog had been in labor and needed a Caesarean
section ASAP. One vet clinic we had
called became very nosy when they found out we had bred our dog. Another couldn’t possibly fit us into their
terribly tight schedule. When we called
the Watkins Clinic, we were immediately impressed when their kind and
understanding receptionist reassured us that they no matter what happened they
would delivery our puppies—even if they had to come to our house! During the C-section, we were even more
surprised when we were told that, rather than sitting in a waiting room or
watching anxiously from behind a glass window, we would actually be helping clean
and dry off the puppies as they were delivered.
The vet and his assistant stayed at the clinic long after business hours
for the C-section. All-in-all, the
Watkins Veterinary Clinic treated us with the utmost care and respect—just as
if we were family.
It is nice to find a veterinary clinic
where the owners and pets are valued and respected. Many vets only seem to only care about raking
as much money out of you and your pet as possible. However, the Watkins Veterinary Clinic’s
policy is different. Their website
states, “Our goal and policy is to treat our clients as we would treat our
families, and to treat our client’s animals as though they were our own.”
Cool,
invigorating air washed over me as I stepped into their lobby. I could hear faint radio music mixed with the
annoying yap of a small dog in some back room.
I nervously told the receptionist that I had come for my interview with
the veterinarian. Soon a short, stout
man welcomed me and introduced himself as the veterinarian, Dean. “Clinic’s been here since around 1980,” he
informed me in his hesitant, high-pitched voice. I asked him if he thought that their customer
treatment policy had helped their business at all. “Everyone’s different, so we appeal to
certain people. We’re a little more homey.
By
now I had forgotten my nervousness, and was feeling quite at ease. Dr. Dean invited me into the little surgery
room. A stocky lady with a laughing
smile was giving a hysterectomy to an anesthetized Dachshund. She assured me that she was used to having
people watch her in surgery. I asked Dr.
Dean why their clinic allowed people to freely view surgeries and why other
clinics often don’t. He explained that
the bigger clinics might have more liability issues. “Suppose you fell and hit your head and
fainted!” he said. “They would say, ‘Why
did you have her in there?’ We take some
liberties. If you feel faint, sit down
please!
Having
other duties to finish, Dr. Dean left me watching the surgeon, Miranda, at work. I questioned her as to what was different
about this clinic versus other clinics.
She answered that she enjoyed having multiple vets and technicians
working together to bounce ideas off of and to create a more flexible
schedule. “It’s a good working environment
here!” she informed to me in her bright voice.
“Most employees have worked here for at least a couple of years, which,
for me, was also appealing. There must
be a reason for sticking around at this clinic.”
Miranda
announced that she and the other staff all got along pretty well. “We try to be one big, happy family.” Miranda and the other workers who were next
door in the treatment room talked and laughed with each other as they worked. An appointment for a cat named “Kitty #6”
gave the staff a few chuckles. When I
asked Jen, a vet tech, what she liked best about working at this clinic, she
stated emphatically that “I like everything!”
The
treatment room, cluttered with papers and equipment, contrasted distinctly with
the neatness of the rest of the building.
Still, I felt a certain relaxed and informal appeal to it—not the
typical sterilized, “don’t-touch-anything” feel that many clinics have. A white board on the wall by the door asked
in orange marker, “Techs: would anyone be able to work Sat. June 2nd?
Please let me know. Thanks!”
A computer listing upcoming appointments sat on a desk amid jumbled
files and papers.
I
left the staff to their tasks, and headed back into the lobby. A stuffed, cloth tick hanging from the
ceiling caught my eye. Colorful
advertisements were taped to the front of the receptionist’s desk. Treats that would make any dog’s mouth water
sat on the desk in a jar painted with colorful paw prints. A placid dog on a leash poked his head lazily
out of the office doorway.
A
bell toned as the front door opened. A
customer entered and immediately went over to pet the dog on the leash. Instead of a formal greeting, the
receptionist gave the lady a big hug! After
finishing her business, the customer turned to leave. I intercepted her and politely asked what her
experience at the Watkins Clinic had been.
In a soft, almost loving tone, she remarked, “The vets have done a lot
of surgery on three of my cats. They really
care. It’s about what’s in their hearts
that makes them beautiful,” she mused. “They
were very understanding when I had to put a cat to sleep. I can say nothing bad about them!
I
left the Watkins Veterinary Clinic that day fully convinced that this was a
place where I and my pets would be respected and well cared for. I could tell that they cared about their
customers, that they cared about each other, and that they cared about the
animals. Vet clinics where you can feel
right at home are quite rare, but at the Watkins Veterinary Clinic, I feel like
part of the family!
.JPG)
.JPG)
