Reminder Cards

I've mentioned that we are old school at work, no computers. We have a typewriter and phones that you have to dial 9 for an outside line. We look up the owner's names in the Rolodex file, get the chart number and then find their chart.
When a pet is vaccinated, we fill out postcards called Reminder cards. At the end of the month, we label the piles, then stash them away. One year later (or in the case of Rabies shots for dogs, 3 years) they get stamped and mailed out to remind the owners that they need to get their pets vaccinated again.
About a year ago I got a call from a man who was crying hysterically. He'd gotten a reminder card for his dog. Problem was, the dog died unexpectedly in our office several months before. The only reason he didn't tear me a new one is when I checked his chart, I wasn't employed there when it happened. I apologized profusely and stuck a note up in the front to make sure we pull any reminder cards on euthanasias and in hospital deaths. Apparently my predecessors did not practice this.
We do get an occasionally cranky call when someone gets a reminder card and they've just gotten their pets vaccinated, and they seem satisfied by the explanation.
I think my younger co workers see me as a senile old bat since it takes me longer to file a pile of charts. That's because I go through them all and make sure all the details are taken care of.
Today I got a call from an owner whose dog died several months ago. He'd gotten a reminder card for that dog's rabies shot. The dog didn't die at our hospital. But he brought in the dog's medication to be given to people who couldn't afford to pay for medicine. And nobody pulled the reminder card. Sheesh.