I live in a world where every day can be the most difficult day of my life. It's emotional. It's draining. It's gutwrenching. I suffer from emotional burnout and compassion fatigue. Earlier this week, in one day, we had to have a hearing with a judge over the firing of an employee; we got the news that a good friend of ours who made a major mistake had his sentence reduced to 8 years suspended (great news!!) even though he won't get out of jail until December; we had to write a nasty email to the previous owner of our practice threatening a lawsuit. And then the next day, I had to euthanize my dear friend's 17 year old dog while she laid beside her in the kennel and cried. All of this while carrying a full workload and taking care of all of our clients - business as usual.
Some days I almost can't take it.
And then today, one of my good, long term clients informed me that the IRS has come down on them for not paying their taxes appropriately and they have a lien on their house. How on earth do I look her in the face and tell her that I have to charge her for my services? I honestly care about her dog; we've been through tummy upsets, ruptured knees, weight loss, weight gain, numerous medications and conversations. How do I help without hurting my own pocketbook?
It's worse than I've ever seen it. People are hurting. People are losing their jobs and their lives. It's hard to make it through the day without offering a discount, a free service or something just to help someone. But I have a business to run and employees to support and taxes to pay myself. My business helps support my small town. We make a difference in people's lives.
Thank god for Steve who gets me through these tribulations and maintains that we must charge for what we do, or like my dad predicted many moons ago, I'd be the poorest (read: broke) vet in the world.
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