I never expected I'd have to wear a HazMat suit at work. Okay, not really. It was a jumpsuit and latex gloves. But still! Wearing that kind of outfit to walk an incredibly contagious animal is apt to make anyone a little self-conscious. I was all too aware of absolutely everything I touched. The most annoying thing is that when I walked the germ-infested dog, I felt this compassion for him, like, "Oh, poor sick doggie, I'll take care of you..." But he's not sick, just contagious. And he proceeded to act like the biggest jerk ever on our walk, racing over to look, growl, and bark at all the other dogs. And damnit, he is strong! I kept having to jerk him away, and pray that the other dogs won't come down with it, also.

It. Oh, yes, did I mention? It = Ringworm. Gross, huh? Contagious to dogs, cats, and humans! Woo hoo! After I brought him back to his kennel and changed out of the jumpsuit, I had to throw away the gloves, spray myself with disinfectant, dunk my keys in bleach water, and bleach all the handles of every door I'd touched. Not to mention, wash my hands a thousand times.

When I was a kid, I had OCD troubles, because I had a huge fear of germs and "contamination." This incident brought back many bad memories. I just couldn't have felt more tense and stressed out, worrying about spreading ringworm germs to everyone and everything in my path.

I was relieved, to say the least, to get home Thursday night.

And tomorrow, I get to do it all over again. Lucky me.

Wow. That "I dearly love my job" sentiment didn't really last so long after all, huh?