My worst job ever!

Many years ago I moved to Australia for the first time. I responded to an add in the AVA Journal and was offered a job in a rural area. I was foolish enough to accept at face value, influenced by above average pay and free accommodation.  I assumed the good pay was because the location was what by some may be considered as "remote".

It soon became clear that accepting the job was a very bad decision. My visa was tied to the job, so I was somewhat stuck. I consulted with an immigration lawyer who said that I would lose my visa if I resigned, but he did advise me to keep a diary - excellent advice as it turned out later.

This is my diary:
 26 July: Meeting with Dr.D at my request. Tell him that I am finding it difficult to get along with A (practice manager) and had such an upsetting incident last week when she took me to task over a phone call  to a client in the presence of junior staff  (vet and vet nurse) and then let it escalate into an attack with false accusations of breaking the car's gearbox and being selfish to leave a light on when I go out at night, with insinuations that I would not do it in my own home, and added that I was getting a very good salary with benefits etc until she had me in tears. As a result I consulted an immigration lawyer to determine what my position would be if I resigned. The lawyer advised that he should write a letter to D so that things are placed on record. Dr. D was very upset about this and threatened that if anything like that ever happened again, he would fire me.

I discussed more of the problems I had with A, mentioning that although I was doing my best, I constantly felt victimized by her.

I mentioned my concern about the presence of large amounts of expired drugs on the premises. He told me (falsely) that they had all been removed, though he felt it was utter bullshit and that he did not want to hear another word about it. He appeared upset and aggressive about this. I said that I did not want to act illegally in terms of the Veterinary Act. He then said that the law was bullshit too. I found some expired atropine on the work shelf  in the clinic this evening (27 July). Do I risk more confrontation or ignore it?

He felt that the problems A and I were having were due to communication problems and accused me of being to blame. He then called A to the meeting. She said that her intention was not to criticize my work but to tell me how they do it here. I said that though I was happy to go along with practice policy, I still had to make a case by case decision based on what is best for the animal. D pointed out that this was not necessarily the right approach, because that would not necessarily be best for the business. He cited a recent case where I had removed a stick which had become encapsulated in an abscess under the skin over a dog's rib cage. I lanced the lesion at both ends, removed the stick with ease, flushed the abscess thoroughly and inserted a penrose drain. The dog made an uneventful recovery. However, D says that in the client's perception, he did not get value for money with two small incisions and no sutures. I should have cut open the full length of the lesion and put in many sutures - at least 10 - that way the client would feel that he got value for money and that we had done a job he could never have done himself. The job I did made him feel that he had to pay a lot of money for a simple procedure he could have performed himself. The practice charges a set fee for an abscess, regardless of size or complexity. Perhaps if I had communicated with the client rather than A, he might see the value in my approach - shorter anaesthesia, less trauma and a satisfactory outcome - but with the existing status quo that was not an option.

To be continued.....