Miranda says:

Thank goodness you had the presence of mind to record this. Yeah, you can tell you’re upset, but the strongest profanity *I* heard was “hell.”

They sure DID mess with the wrong people!

MsElenaeous says:

Screaming? Not in my book, but I am Italian after all. So, you know now you gotta put up some artist reneditions of the event ;)

Leland says:

You were a darn sight more civil then I would have been. You are a better man then I am.

Dorene says:

I agree with the three folks above; you were much kinder than I would have been. And I’ll repeat that I simply can’t see Karen acting any differently - she is far more of the icy chill sort when she’s angry. :)

How’s PJ’s leg, btw?

Andrew says:

PJ is doing just fine. The new vet got him on the proper dose of meds, removed the drainage tube, and generally cleaned things up. Now it just looks like a big red splotch instead of an awful gash. If you didn’t see it, you’d never know he’d been hurt.

B.R. says:

Having worked with Andrew Kantor on a magazine for just shy of a year, I can say that he’s not the abusive person that Dim Whitmore says he is. So there.

Mark says:

How did you manage to record that? Do you have a copy of the whole thing? Just curious and a little anxious to hear it.

pwils says:

Wow, they called that helling and screaming? They never heard me and I would have been hysterically angry, especially considering they would not let you have your dog and then charged you for it. I’m sorry to say there are a lot of idiots out there. My dogs are my children now and I protect and care for them as such… I would have been boiling and furious, you were quite civil and pleasant only wanting to get out of the place as quickly as possible. Understandably!

Glad to here PJ is doing well in spite of his trauma at the Vet!

greyrat says:

Heh heh heh. Truth in advertising. You sir, are the bomb. I thought you were insanely CIVIL to the staff all things considered. And if I heard correctly, you were more upset (and probably rightfully so) with the ‘witness’ that was bagging on you than you were with the staff. And if that exiting verbal shot was yelling and screaming, well — I don’t know WHAT I could be accused of after leaving some businesses I’ve had to deal with.

Also, could you cite the legal precedent that allowed you to record that without telling them?

greyrat says:

Oh, and I’ve been much worse than you were here in airport security lines as they’ve taken my bladeless pen knife (long story) and threatened to take my car key because it had the security electronics built-in (another long story), and I’m still not at Gitmo.

Andrew says:

Virginia — like 30-something states — has what’s known as ‘one-party notification’ when it comes to recording conversations. In other words, only one of the people needs to be aware that the recording is taking place (i.e., you can’t record a phone call between two other people).

There have been some case-law issues about this, but they all involved recordings being made in a place where people had an expectation of privacy, e.g., a private office. Public waiting rooms don’t give anyone an expectation of privacy, but I would have shut the recorder had, say, the vet asked me to come back to her office.

If you want to read the details, check out http://www.rcfp.org/taping. The relevant passage:

Thirty-eight states and the District of Columbia permit individuals to record conversations to which they are a party without informing the other parties that they are doing so. These laws are referred to as “one-party consent” statutes, and as long as you are a party to the conversation, it is legal for you to record it.

gnomic says:

What is most telling is the ambient background - normal office chatter. I know from personal experience, if someone has just been screaming, it takes a bit for things to get back to normal. The person talking to Andrew doesn’t have much stress or concern in his voice - just a bit of irritation.

Brambleton is certainly proving itself to be less than ethical.

Andrew says:

Thank you for pointing that out. Yes, the office wasn’t disrupted much, despite what Diane Whitmore said.

Mark says:

So is there anyway to hear the rest of the time there? Or are you not going to share?

rvmthr says:

Just spent some time reading about your experience and the comments of others and listening to the recording. As others have implied, you sound angry but calm. I had more than one bad experience with Southern Hills over a 5 year period before finally expressing myself in to the office staff there. I was as you were, angry but calm. Dr. Preston Thornton was even within earshot, but never approached to what the problem was. I’m always glad to tell anyone interested about our experience there if it will help them make an informed decision when choosing a vet. We then tried Brambleton Vet because it was convenient. It didn’t take long to seek another change due to poor customer service. We never had a chance to develop a relationship with Dr. Jennings because I don’t think we ever actually saw her even though we asked specifically for her when we scheduled the appointments by phone. We now see Dr. Katie Eick at Big Lick Vet and couldn’t be more pleased.

Yo Momma says:

Wow!!! You all are so drawn into this warped family, thinking that they are so freaking civil and great…do you ever think that people only let you hear what they want you to hear!!! That whole recording was such an act!!! I believe the others about how much of a jerk you really were and just by the lady in the background…she sounded very happy with the care that she has gotten!!! This guys actions ( Andrew )…how overboard he is going with all of this…just shows you how OCD and vindictive of a person that he really is…I would hate to be his wife…how many times has he beaten you behind closed doors and you pretend like you have to perfect marriage….am I going to see you on Dateline NBC or 48 hours murder mystery??? I hope that you don’t claim to be a Christian because in Christ’s eyes…we are supposed to be loving and forgiving. Sounds like we don’t have anything but hatred in our hearts. So I have to say that I am sorry that mommy did not love you and that daddy touched you that way :( I hope that you get over your issues and you get the help that you need. And I also hope that you are teaching your children better values that what you show on this ridiculous site that you have created…ta ta :)

Andrew says:

Uh, yeah.

(FYI, “Yo Momma” is also known as “Mary” who posted here: http://www.kantor.com/2007/05/14/avoid-brambleton-veterinary-clinic-in-roanoke/#comment-11232.)

Ron says:

Is it just me or does it sound like Andrew doesn’t want to release the other part of the audio. Hmmm, interesting.

Andrew says:

You’re right — I don’t. But not for the reasons you might think. :)

To me, the audio was a last resort for when I felt the need to prove something that there was no other way to prove. That was the case with Ms. Whitmore but it hasn’t been the case with the rest of the event.

In other words, I didn’t bother putting it up because there’s no reason to put it up. It’s also something like 20 minutes long. The two longest parts are A) a silence while I stood and waited for them to bring PJ out, and B) my side of the phone conversation with Dr. Jennings, who was not in the office at the time. So you get to hear me being angry, but you don’t hear the nasty comments from Dr. Jennings that made me angry.

If it’s really that important to you, though, I can put it up.

Leland says:

In Re: Yo Momma…

Good Lord!

Dorene says:

Gosh, Andrew, Mary/Yo Mama’s right - she might see you on the news someday. Maybe they’ll rerun your spot with Leslie Stahl on “60 Minutes” for her. That was pretty nifty. :)

Andrew says:

Full audio file at http://www.kantor.com/blog/images/brambleton_vet_5-15_full.mp3 . It’s 15MB, and as mentioned there’s a LOT of empty space on it where I’m just standing around. It starts about 30 seconds after I walk in.

Now tell me: Did I sound like a crazy, violent person? Or did I simply sound like an angry and frustrated guy? Was I overly nasty, just nasty enough, or actually pretty polite?

Update: Wordpress included the period at the end of the URL for some reason. I fixed the link.

Suzanne says:

I listened to the whole thing. Andrew is clearly angry, and he does raise his voice a little, but in no way does he scream, curse or threaten anyone. And if I complained to my vet about her clinic’s poor treatment of my dog and she threatened to sue me, I would raise my voice too. I don’t know how this Whitmore lady can possibly say she feared for the safety of the vet techs — Andrew was very polite to them, even telling them he knows they aren’t responsible for this debacle. I’m so glad the Kantors don’t go to that vet anymore; apparently their clientele isn’t that bright.