Working with Difficult People

I am heading into my last week of an externship at a veterinary clinic I wasn't meant to go to and a clinic I loathe with every fiber of my being.

I'll start at the beginning. Almost two years ago, we were asked as late second years to start thinking about our schedule for our fourth year. There were several steps involved in getting our schedules straight, and thanks to the advent of modern technology, most of these steps were performed online with box-checking and drop-down menus. Apparently, when asked to select an externship hospital from a drop-down menu way way back then I accidentally released my mouse button on a similarly-named equine hospital located approximately 700 miles from my intended locale.

This mistake went completely unnoticed by me for almost two years. The intended hospital was 20 miles from my parent's house, and I had made lengthy and detailed plans with them for my month-long stay. We were going to have girls' nights, we were going to go shopping, my Mom was going to cook indian for me. The list goes on and on. And add to that I was finally going to be able to take my role as active big-sister to my 16 year old sister. Either way, I was really, really looking forward to it.

Fast forward to a week and a half before my intended departure. I am a die-hard procrastinator for silly paperwork things and loopholes. I knew I was supposed to contact my externship hospital and let them know I was coming and what I wanted to get out of the ordeal. I mosied into our advisor's office and sat down with the binder filled with student evaluations of the clinics and started excitedly chatting with her about staying with my parents, etc etc. She quickly stopped me and said, "Elly, you're not going to [unnamed clinic], you're going to [other unnamed clinic]!!"

"No I'm not! I'm going to the one near my parents house! You must have made a mistake!" I replied indignantly.

She looked it up, and in fact, I had made the mistake all that time ago. And because I am such a royal procrastinator there was nothing that could be done. I was doomed to go to the other clinic that saw horses, sure, but also saw a lot of cows. You cannot imagine the depths of my disappointment.

As a responsible adult, I feel it is best to accept responsibility for one's mistakes and go about making the best of them. Some wonderful coincidences occurred and I was able to secure a recently vacated and fully furnished house to myself for the duration of my stay. I slapped on a happy face and faked a great attitude and headed off to said dreaded externship.

It has been total and utter torture. I am 100% out of place. I don't belong, and no one makes an effort to make me feel otherwise. Fine. When in Rome....

My horse experience stems from years spent taking hunter/jumper lessons and working at an equine veterinary hospital for three years that dealt mostly with hunter/jumper/dressage clientele. I do endurance on arabs. Therefore, I stick out like a sore thumb around here, where the horses are 98% ranch bred working quarter horses. I don't know anything about cattle other than what I gleaned from a dairy science focused undergrad degree and the odd classes and a few hours of "handling" classes in veterinary school.

Have any of you ever been dropped completely alone into a situation where you can relate to no one or nothing? The doctors think I'm a waste of their time, as I don't intend to practice on horses OR cows. The techs think I'm stupid for not being able to recall cow diseases at the snap of a finger and that I have no concept of how to help with how things are run. It is so obvious I'm not wanted there, but I've stuck it out for three and a half awful weeks and have actually managed to learn a few things and enjoy myself doing things I didn't think I'd ever enjoy doing (ie working with cows). I spend my days standing around, pacing, visiting with the horses, and following (and being ignored) by the doctors like a mute idiot. I do get to perform the spays and neuters in the mornings, but only because both doctors find small animal work largely beneath them.

The only comfort I have is being able to travel the 250 miles back home to Wayne every weekend and knowing that I graduate in 18 days.

18 days