Loot!

I hear that in the 1960s, kids who went in for check-ups got lollipops.

By the 1990s, sugar had been exposed as a health hazard, so pediatricians started handing out stickers to their young patients instead.

I gotta tell you, those old-time docs got nothing on mine!

The other day I went in for a routine Bortedella booster. Mom waited patiently in the lobby as way more time than necessary passed. Finally, the veterinary technician brought me back to her.

“Administering a shot doesn’t usually take so long,” she apologized. “But we all wanted a turn to cuddle with Scout.”

My membership in VCA Care Club meant there was no charge for the vaccine, but Mom didn’t know that. As she approached the front desk preparing to pay, the receptionist asked, “Does Scout like to play with balls?” She waggled a mini-tennis ball before me as Mom considered whether to take it.

“We know Scout likes to wear bandanas,” she said. (Apparently, they read my blog!) “Maybe you’d prefer a bandana?”

“Orange or blue?” her colleague asked me.

“Oh, give him one of each,” the first one said. “And a ball.”

I came home with a bushelful of loot — so much I hardly remember the shot! Now that’s what I call good bedside manner.