Once again I have to share a post from one of my favorite websites, NotAlwaysRight.com. This situation happened in Argentina and really goes to show how veterinary clients are pretty similar no matter where in the world they may be. I've had conversations very similar to the one below.
(I am at a pet shop that has as a veterinary clinic in the back, looking for a kennel for my dog. A lady is at the counter complaining to the only employee there, so he can’t come help me, but I’m no hurry, so I wait.)
Lady: “But my dog won’t eat this food. Don’t you have [Brand #1]?”
Employee: “Sorry, ma’am, we only have this [Brand #2].”
Lady: “But he won’t eat it! Is there any way to make him eat it?”
Employee: “He might need time to get used to it.”
Lady: “But even if I give it to him, he won’t eat it!”
(This goes on for about five minutes, with the employee telling her there’s nothing to be done if the dog doesn’t want that food and the lady complaining because they don’t have the brand she always takes and asking if there’s a way to get her dog to eat the food. Finally, the lady changes tactic.)
Lady: “I want to speak with [Vet]. Maybe she’ll know a way to make him eat it.”
Employee: “Sorry, she isn’t here now, but the other doctor is in.”
(The other doctor is a tall, sixty-year-old man with a grey beard who clearly doesn’t appreciate being called from the back to attend to this issue, but he speaks to the lady nonetheless.)
Vet: “What seems to be the problem?”
Lady: “Well, you don’t have [Brand #1], but my dog doesn’t like [Brand #2] and he won’t eat it…”
(Meanwhile, the employee comes to show me the kennels and I pick one. All the time the lady keeps arguing with the vet about ways to make her dog eat the food.)
Vet: *visibly tired of her insistence* “Look, the only way to make him eat it is if you starve him until he has no more choice than to eat it.”
Lady: *she doesn’t seem very happy with this reply, but she takes the dog food to the counter to pay for it* “Are you sure you are a vet? I have never seen you here before.”
Vet: “Yes, ma’am, I have been for forty years. I just stay in the back most of the time.”
Lady: “Why?”
Vet: “Because I’m too old for this s***.”
Will that be me in another 20 or so years? Quite possibly!
