Kevin

My page...does not make good cookies...

Journal 1: March.05.09

My first day at Cloverdale Animal Hospital started with sweeping; all volunteers get to sweep the building before they do any other work. This took up about a third of the day. The office cat kept trying to eat the piles of dust. Later I learned how to prepare a //client information sheet//, but I probably won't be doing that for actual people. A good experience I had with a customer happened while I was still sweeping; a cat breeder had stopped in for some things, and she was very friendly. After my lunch break a large rottweiller was brought in for surgery, so we had to lift it onto a table (it was heavier than it looked). Once preparations were finished Dr. Om suggested I stay to watch the surgery. Toward the end of the day I helped take stitches out of another dog. The workday ended a little bit earlier than planned for me because there were no other appointments, but it was still a good experience.

Journal 2: March.06.09

Today was a lot slower than day one; I didn't really do much. I moved and unloaded a bunch of food crates, and swept the "cat room", and that's about it. Someone brought in a great dane today (the thing was so huge it was like a skinny bear), and another guy had a wolf. There was also a puppy that just sat on a chair. Overall, today's animals were more interesting than yesterday's, but nothing particularly interesting happened. I have learned why the office cat is so fat; it practically //lives// in the food storage room.

Journal 3: March.07.09

I learned how to sterilize/clean surgical tools today, so I did that. I also helped get a blood sample from a cat, then put it in its kennel. There's a different person at the front desk on weekends, and she had me doing more phone answering than before, so I'm getting a bit more experience with that (yay?). Someone brought in an eighteen year old cat (surprisingly it can still get around). Today was probably the best working day so far; I spent more time actually doing things. Apparently Saturdays are the busiest.

Journal 4: March.08.09

I started the day with more surgical tool cleaning, then I mopped the main examination area (mops are weird). I can sell pet food to people now; I was trained this morning, but so far no one has needed to buy any. Dr. Om had to put a cat to sleep today. Apparently some homeless people have been living behind the hospital, and someone complained about the dirtiness ( I'm not sure who complains about the "ambience" around the dumpsters behind a gas station and animal hospital, but whatever) so the receptionist and I had to clean it out. It was snowing weird ball-shaped snowflakes the entire time; the receptionist commented on how they looked like tic tacs. I got hit in the eye with a several "tic-tacs". After the clean up was finished Dr. Om left for his lunch break (at four o' clock, because it was so busy today), and no new customers were coming in, so I cleaned some more tools. Later, there were still no new customers so I was talking with the receptionist; she just graduated from grade 12, and had done a science coop (which wasn't a great experience as her employer gave her a bad review for doing what she was asked to do).

Journal 5: March.09.09

I got to work half an hour early today, but the rest of the day was mostly the same as usual. There was more tool cleaning, and some sweeping. I had to move a cat which is boarding at the hospital; it tried to bite me a few times. I saw a neutering and a tumor removal today, and learned two new things about dogs; first, a lot of them get tumors, and second that they hate having their nails clipped. One dog actually needed to be put under anaesthetic before we could clip the nails, and it resisted falling asleep for a good twenty five minutes (that's a lot). I just noticed today that there hasn't been any ferrets or anything other than dogs and cats coming in. I have a day of tomorrow. ___
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Journal 1: May.11.09

Interestingly, I arrived on the slowest day in recent history at my job; there were very few people in today. I met the staff of Tom Lee Music today, they're all really nice, and the atmosphere is pretty relaxed (although my boss wasn't in the shop today. Maybe It's not normally so relaxed?). Today was a shipping day; two days per week a new shipment of stock is delivered, so my day consisted mainly of unloading the truck, opening boxes, and putting cardboard in the recycling bin. I learned how to take inventory as well, which is tricky (there's so many barcodes on each box, I don't know which one to look at). After that was finished I tuned almost all the guitars in the store; some have a special piece attached to the guitar's neck so it doesn't de-tune while you're playing, but it won't let you re-tune either. Not without tools anyway. So far I am enjoying working at Tom Lee, and I look forward to tomorrow.

Journal 2: May.14.09

I realize that this journal isn't supposed to be here until tomorrow, but I won't be available to write it after work, so here it is. Today was a lot busier than day one, which is good as it gave me more to do. Thursday is also shipping day, so again we unloaded the truck, then I crushed all the recycling and put it outside. I've started polishing the guitars and drums now; the glossy black things show fingerprints very easily, and that looks kind of gross. I rearranged the reeds as well (reeds go into wind or brass instruments so you can blow into them). On my lunch break I went over to the TNT supermarket and got a juice thing, which was really good. Then I talked to some homeless guy for a bit. My watch broke sometime around four today, and I accidentally worked an extra half hour; oh well, no harm done. Overall, things have generally been the same for the past couple of days, but we're starting building renovations next week.

Journal 3: May.20.09

A lot was done while i was gone over the weekend; the shelves which i disassembled on Friday are totally gone and bookshelves have replaced them. So today, I filled the shelves with classical piano books. I think Chopin has way too many books; there's no way he wrote so much stuff. I learned today that we have a $214,999 Gibson Explorer guitar in the shop, it's from the 60's. A couple of little kids came in today, one kept saying "taw taw!" (guitar?) and the other majorly untuned a twelve string guitar; no fun for me as I had to retune it later. I went to get sushi for lunch, which was good. Tomorrow is another stock day.

Journal 4: May.22.09

When I arrived this morning, the manager and I were the only two in the store, so I spent the morning manning the phones. Later, when more people arrived, we moved the PA department (microphones and recording software) into the spot where the books used to be; the glass cabinets fit perfectly into the space. I learned a couple of chords on a mandolin when I had some free time. The renovating guys have almost finished with their work, and the new walls look pretty good, although they need to be painted. Tomorrow is my last day.