What in the hell are you talking about, Sukie, "Vets are human and need to have a full life too (or something to that effect)?" Oh, my word... how can you possibly say this? This is preposterous. Don't all doctors of take the hippopotamic oath? It is their *duty* to answer my phone call at 3am when my ferret coughs shortly after drinking some water out of their bowl, isn't it? What if my ferret caught some waterborne disease that veterinary science hasn't figured out yet. Oh yeah, maybe my fuzzy is just choking a bit on some water, but what if they weren't? My whole business of ferrets could come down with a new and exotic disease, and just what would you have me do? I tell you Sukie, you just going way too far with this "people have a right to their own life" stuff... We pay vets a lot of money to treat our fuzzies. Oh, I know... vets spend almost as much money on their education as human doctors do (without a quarter of the payoff), but hey... that's beside the point. They knew what they were doing. And don't tell me about their "compassion" and smarmy "love of all kinds of life" bullcrap. I pay in cold hard plastic, usually right on time, so they damn well better take my calls at 3am. "Own life" indeed. About a month ago my favorite Chinese restaurant closed for a few days. The reason involved some petty "family medical emergency." What, couldn't they get some other family member to make my General Tso's chicken. Don't all oriental people know how to make this stuff anyways? The point is, when I have a craving for General Tso's chicken, that's what I want. So I went there every day on my lunch break, expecting the place to be open. Oh, I know other Chinese restaurants make the stuff, but this place really had the best General Tso's chicken (besides, it was cheap), and I damn well expected them to make it for me. I am a loyal paying customer, after all. Each day I would stand at the door and wait for them to open. I figured that they were probably inside hiding. They *had* to know I was going hungry, but I suspect that they were quietly laughing at me the whole time. It was a very annoying feeling, and for a week or two I went hungry on my lunch break. Is this kind of thing what you want to encourage, Sukie? People going hungry because just because some oriental cook had a heart attack? I would hope not... Now, I could have went to my favorite Injun restaurant and had some of that spicy chicken in the orange sauce, but I have my principles. Besides, the stuff with the orange sauce doesn't have those tiny red peppers that I like so much. And anyways, the Injun restaurant informed me that they were exercising their right to refuse me service, all because on one occasion I snapped my fingers, pounded my table, and yelled at "Hadji" to hurry it up with my bread. Apparently "Hadji" was not his name. I really don't know what their problem was. I still had a bunch of that orange sauce left and I needed some of that bread to soak it up. Was that too much to ask? All I know is that I can't go there now, and *that's* my point. I need to get my General Tso's chicken. And if my fuzzy momentarily chokes on some water at 3am, I want my damn vet to reassure me that all is fine with the world. I have that *right*, don't I? Again, what about the hypodermic oath, huh? I really think that... oh, hold on -- one of my grandkids is knocking at the door. Good lord. Doesn't the little bosta know I'm busy here trying to make my point? Couldn't the little bugger bleed somewhere else? For Pete's sake, I'm gonna have to get back to you people... I can't think with all this crying, and the blood is dripping all over my carpet. Some people, be they big or be they small, think that they can just cry and drip blood wherever they feel like it. This is just totally ridiculous... I'll get back to you guys later. Roary Albuquerque, NM [Posted in FML 6075]