SuperMom to the rescue/Practice for Profit

Welcome back to this continuing soap opera we call: The Productive Veterinary Hospital. This month on "St. Anywhereelsebuthere", we go boldly forward where few have gone before. I speak of the world of part-time employees.

Just as many of us entered our profession on a puffy and unrealistic cloud of academic wonder only to stumble on economic reality, the "I just love animals" teen that might spend a year or two in training to become a veterinary technician arrives on the scene of his or her dreams to find that it is a roller coaster of nausea and nystagmus produced by apartment-car syndrome.

Yes, if you can obtain additional support, then it is possible to afford decent transportation and a decent apartment, however, not at the same time and not with what you pay me!

"I love my job; it's perfect or me! I was gaining weight before I took this job, and I love it. It's just that I can't afford food any more."

Of course, for those without any college education and for many with a basic degree, the job market is rosy for anyone with the ability to say: "Would you like fries with that?"

Our world is racing into a part-time mentality. At $8 to $10 an hour, you need another part-time job just to keep Red Bull in the fridge. For the entire world, the number of full-time positions are shrinking with jobs migrating overseas, downsizing and rightsizing just when everything is super-sized except my paycheck! Why not carry the current female associate trend to job share down to the staff who support us?

Why not replace each departing full-time staff member with two part-time workers, each working half a day with a small overlap?

With more and more governmental interference on the horizon, part-time help is seen as the salvation of many employers. Many of these workers will never exceed $12 an hour. Why should they when the number of college-degreed bus drivers today is triple that of a decade ago?

Some of the reasons we should seek out part-time staff are as follows:

First, there are a lot of ex-somethings out there: ex-teachers, ex-legal secretaries, ex-nurses and more. These are talented, well-educated people. The reality is that one day, Mom awakens to the fact that the kids can almost handle life on their own. This truth hits after being asked to drop them off a block from where they are supposed to meet their friends.

The very next day, there is a scramble for the classifieds. Not full time, mind you, the part-time classifieds. SuperMoms still have to run a household. What most SuperMoms seem to look for is a nice, non-stressful job with about 25-30 hours a week. Of course, it would have to be flexible enough to accommodate hubby's vacation, the kid's soccer games, the cheerleading schedule and a bizillion other important family life cycle events. Job sharing! Yeah, that's the ticket!

Something they really would enjoy but leaves them free to take off now and then for a long weekend (leaving job-sharee to work full time for a while) or to do volunteer work one morning at the leper clinic. (Translate as run to school to keep my kid from being suspended, again ... twice is quite enough!)

The magic word auto-substitution pops up here. Yeah! You work for me Tuesday morning this week, and I'll work a double shift for you on Friday so you can take a long weekend camping!

Is it good for St. Anywhereelsebuthere. What you get is a more-mature, child battle-hardened, auto-substituting, more adaptable and more-tolerant-of-you staff member with a decent car and one who doesn't have to put up with client nonsense for an impossible 10 hours a day. Five hours a day, Monday through Friday and every other Saturday is more than enough, thank you!

Use this ad under part time to get your very own SuperMom or senior receptionist/assistant!

Part Time:

Animal hospital receptionist (or assistant) 27-28 hrs/week. Every other Saturday.

Must be able to work morning or afternoon shift as required. E-mail resume to http// www.overworked&underpaid.com

Of course, there is a major disadvantage to this scenario. You might never have to see the word "overtime" appear on your payroll ledger. You really won't need an employee lounge for lunch, for few will stay around. They eat before or after their shift, sticking around only long enough to brief the second shift on the joys awaiting them when dealing with the clients of the morning returning to pick up their cutsie-woochie-poochies. Oh Yes! Most receptionists are completely able to maintain a cheery disposition for a five-hour shift. Ten hours of putting up with you qualifies them for sainthood!