For 3 years now, I've worked in a veterinary diagnostic lab with the provincial government, through the government's student employment program. It started off as a summer job after my second year, and then my contract got extended so I could keep working through my third year. And ever since then, I've kept getting contract extensions, and now I can say that I've had the good fortune to work in veterinary diagnostics for 3 years.
As far as student jobs go, it was an absolute dream. Everybody was flexible and understood that school came first. The building I worked in was literally on the university campus, so I could go in whenever I had breaks in my schedule. The people I worked with were warm and friendly. I know more about vet medicine, agriculture, and food production now than I ever thought would. As a bonus, there was never any scrambling to find a summer job, because they always wanted me back.
Well, I got an email from my boss today. There's been no word from the powers that be within the government about extending student contracts. Can't say I'm surprised, given the talks of layoffs within the civil service. Though she mentioned in the email that they'd "hate to lose me", the situation stings a little nonetheless.
Because sure, there were aspects of the job that sucked sometimes. The busy season was never fun. Dealing with rush samples was never fun. Sometimes animal dung smells really, really bad. And, on the odd occasion, there was some pissed off producer that just had their farm shut down, who decided to threaten animal protection officers, which meant everyone on my building was high alert. But I worked there, alongside great people, for three. Whole. Years. More than half my degree. I have bona fide lab skills which are shockingly more in demand than you may think (especially now).
I had really hoped there would be another summer working 9 to 5 (cue Dolly Parton song), and while it's not officially a "no" to the summer students this summer, the odds are overwhelmingly stacked against us. None of this is how it was supposed to go. I was supposed to write exams in person, and graduate at convocation, in person. I was supposed to work one last summer at my job, and then move on to bigger things. Well, that's all been blown to smithereens. Though I know this time in my life will be even more memorable given the situation, I can't help but feel like I'm missing out on something- these big life moments that I don't get to have. My time as an undergraduate student isn't going out with a bang, but a whimper.
So, despite all the stress and odd smells I dealt with working in an animal diagnostics lab all these years, I'm incredibly grateful I had the chance to learn as much as I did. On some level, I'll miss it. As far as workplaces go, this one set the standard pretty high. I mean, I became fully trained on a machine that uses lasers to identify bacteria (this is oversimplifying it)- microbiology can be pretty cool, despite any preconceived notions you may have on the subject. And, as a bonus, I have some pretty cool stories I'll be telling for years to come.
Now I'll be sleeping in and keeping myself entertained at home, instead of earning my $12+ per hour. Not sure what I'll get up to, but undoubtably, it'll be interesting to see what the summer has in store.
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