Superstitions

I was never a very superstitious person....until I got into vet med. Now I live by them, and all my staff know better than to tempt fate while I'm around! Here's a list of the little superstitions and rules of Murphy's law that I live by:

Never say "I'm bored" or "it's slow" or "looks like we'll be done early".
Saying anything like that almost guarantees  a string of last minute appointments and emergencies. These phrases are punishable by extreme glowering when uttered in my presence. 

Never comment on a vein when drawing blood or placing a calendar. 
If you do, no matter how good the vein was, you will not hit it. (I have been known to utter a prayer to Sanguinia, the goddess of veins, on my fifth catheter attempt. It sometimes even works).

White dogs bleed more. 
Things will always get messy when they are involved. Bonus if their owner is very attached, calls them snookums, and can't stand the thought of blood on their baby. But that makes these ones awesome for catheter placement (just keep the peroxide near).

Mean animals live forever, nice ones die young. 
I hate it when I have nice sweet animals get sick because it feels like they always get the worst diseases. However if it's one who tries to bite every visit, it will live despite all odds even with nasty diseases. I think they use hate as fuel. 

Every animal owned by someone who works at a vet clinic will have some sort of rare problem.
Maybe this one is a self-fulfilling prophecy since we tend to take in the pet no one else wants or relinquishes for their problems. (This is how I got my cat...I couldn't stand to euthanize him so adopted him instead. At least I sort of knew what I was getting myself into with that one).

Full moons bring out the crazy.
It's true. Full moons bring out the crazy cases (and the, shall we say, "intense" owners).

Dread the holidays.
Almost certainly the day after a holiday or long weekend will be out-of-your-mind busy, or dead as a dodo. Conversely, the night before any day off (weekend, holiday, vacation), you will see half a dozen animals that were sick all week but suddenly have to come in that night. Also, more euthanasias happen around the Christmas season than any other time of year (a sad fact that sucks all the joy out of the season).

If there is a spider near, it WILL find me.
This is unrelated to my career. I hate spiders, but they sure love me. 4 times in the last 2 months I've been startled by one hanging 6 inches from my face. I cannot count the amount of times I find them crawling around near me. I attract them like no one else! If there's even one in the clinic, guaranteed it'll hang out near to me.

There's probably more that I can't remember right now. Anyone else got crazy superstitions they hang on to despite all logic?

Dr. Arachnophobia