Tier Dentistry (con't)

We have been talking about Tiers in dentistry.
If you are just joining us, we talked about different levels of dental offices.
Basically, I was taught there are 4 tiers. From the clinic setting (McDonald's) to the boutique practices (Ruth's Chris).

As a small business owner I think of my office constantly.
I think of my patients and what they want. I think of my staff and if we are giving the customer a product that they will pay for.

I would say my clientele is middle class to upper middle class, who appreciate good service and for the most part care about their teeth.
Now this is a pretty big box. I have families. I have singles. I have young married with no kids. I have empty nesters. I have elderly. I would say I have this great mix of people because that is who I like to treat. Black, white, Christian, Jewish, Muslim, American and non-American. So I try now to exclude anyone. If they can afford it they can come (and sometimes if they can't afford it they can come anyway).

But what I am trying to say is the lines of the tiers are getting crossed.
I have been thinking a lot about this. Ruth's Chris is the top tier restaurant (I know, I know I talk about Ruth's Chris a lot. It is my favorite restaurant. I go every chance I get. The sweet potato casserole is AMAZING. Steaks come out on a plate that is 500 degrees with butter melted on top of them. OH MY GOSH. I am getting sidetracked).
So if you are the manager of a Tier IV restaurant or dental practice you are trying to cater to the people that can afford what you offer.

But this is where the lines are getting crossed.
What do these people look like? For me, who is the middle to upper middle class? For the Tier IV guy, who is the upper class?
So a couple of months ago I went to Ruth's Chris with my periodontist. My wife and I got their a bit early and took a seat at the bar. I started to people watch. I noticed something strange about some of the clientele. They were every walk of life.
Lets back track. 10 years ago, who went to Ruth's Chris? The rich.
With the exception of the middle to upper middle class on a special occasion.
I would say this type of people are from 50-65.
They would dress a certain way.
They all kind of looked the same.

Now, rich is such a relative term. There are people that are rich that don't look it (ever read the Millionaire Next Door, it is a must read. But if you did read this book you would know that the vast majority of the rich do NOT eat at places like Ruth's Chris) and there are people that look rich that aren't.
They all dress different and they are all different ages.
Can you imagine 10 years ago walking into a Ruth's Chris being 25 years old wearing jeans and a t-shirt?
Well, this is what I saw while sitting there. These two plopped themselves next to us at the bar and ordered some red wine. Now when I was 25 the only bar I was plopping myself down at was the Purple Porpoise in Gainesville and I sure as hell wasn't ordering a MERLOT.
Now is this young person rich or is he using his parent's money? I guess Ruth's Chris doesn't care. I guess if it was my office I wouldn't care.
I read a statistic recently that said that 33% of all new Mercedes owners make less than $60,000 a year. WOW!!!
Lines are being crosses all over.
I have a neighbor that is days from bankruptcy, living in a real nice neighborhood (yes, if you are an avid reader, I have some screwed up neighbors. I fit right in don't you worry).
and she is driving a super sweet Lexus. Also the car is never unwashed. She is so upside down in everything she has. It is amazing how stupid people are.
I think about what a burden it is to drive an expensive car that you can't afford. Every time I see someone in an ESCALADE, my first thought is that car is that car nice. Then I think, man the person driving that car is cool. Then I think what it cost to drive that vehicle. I think that he or she could have two tricked out Expeditions for that price.
I am getting off the point.

Who is it that we are trying to get in our practice?

One quick story. There are a lot of professional golfers in Orlando. One of them was referred to my office. I had a patient that plays with this dude. My patient thought the two of us would get along because we were the same age, we are both diehard Gator fans.
He came in to get his teeth bleached. We talked like old pals, we had lots in common.
Now this guy at the time was in the top 10 on the money list. I think he made close to 5 million dollars that year.
I never saw him again. My friend told me a while later that he was a little chapped because I charged him.
$300 to a man that made $5,000,000.
On the flip side of this, I was seeing a man for a new patient exam. He was a huge grinder and he had ground his teeth down to bits. So I told him, "You need a lot of work and it is going to be very expensive (something like $40,000) to fix your teeth."
He said he would think about it and let me know. He drove away in his 12 year old Suburban.
I told myself, "Yeah, right".
He called in about 15 minutes and asked, "When can we start, I had to go home and find out how long it would take me to transfer money?"

Who are we trying to get to our office?
I have stopped trying to figure it out. I set up my practice in a way that I think people would like. I have set up my office in a way that if I was a patient I would like it.

I don't care if the people are rich. I don't care if they are well dressed. I don't care if they are 50-65 years old. I don't care who's money they use.
I just want them to appreciate what we are doing.
I want them to appreciate the staff.
I want them to want what we have to offer.
In the last week I have had two patients that were NOT rich getting work done. These are the kind of guys that are doing one filling a month because they can't afford to do the work all at once. But both of them on two separate occasions said to me, "I appreciate you."
Not "thank you" or "I appreciate it".
This is the stuff I work for, "I appreciate you" and they looked me in the eyes and shook my hand.
And I said,"It is my pleasure", because it really was.

Have a great day.
Talk to you on Wednesday,
john

Tier Dentistry

.
(This is what the patient sees when they walk into my office,
read on to see why this is relevant)




Thank you for the comments.
A man needs to feel loved sometimes.
I am sensitive, what can say.

Anyways, we have been talking about why someone would pay $40 dollars for a steak or $400 a night for a room.
And how someone can come to appreciate a great filling (that cost more).

The Pankey Institute explained it to me as Tier Dentistry (that means if this sucks or you don't understand it, blame it on the institute).

All the offices can be broken down into 4 tiers.

Let me explain.

Tier I
Is what we would refer to as a clinic. High volume of patients all for bottom basement prices.
This is the McDonald's of dental offices.
On the McDonald's sign it reads Billions and Billions served.
They aren't saying, "we have great beef". They are not saying, "Come get great service"
People understand they are not getting USDA beef or exquisite service, they are coming to eat.
Plain and simple they are eating and it is not at home.
The Tier I office might be a full HMO office. They get their patients from THE LIST. You know the list. They are every insurance list. They get the patients that are told by their insurance where they are to go.
This is a no frills office. There is not alot of character in this office. There isn't alot of service in this office. There isn't alot of relationship building.
But the patient is able to get care maybe for the first time. They are getting in the dentistry door. They are being introduced to dentistry.
They for the first time are addressing things they may not of ever known they needed addressing.
I am not saying anything bad about this office. It is what it is. It is serving people. Now to me as a higher tier dentist I am glad these people are in the door (because soon enough they may want more out of their dental care).

Tier II
I compare this to a Denny's. It is getting a little better. People sit down to eat. There is a menu. There is service.
The dental office is getting a little better. There maybe some character in the office. There may be a dentist that owns the place. Maybe the office has relationships with some a good lab. But maybe using products are good but not great. They maybe serving steak but it is still not USDA.
Patients are getting better care but may still be looking for something more.

Tier III
This office is a TGIFridays. Maybe a Bennigans.
The office has some character. The office has personality. They care about the plant (the way the office/restaurant looks and feels). The dentist does a lot of CE. The dentist is using a lab that is good. They are using specialists that are good.
There is good service. The team spends time talking about how to make things better.
The food they are serving is good to great. The steak is now USDA.
They care.
The issue with this tier is, to me, an identity problem. The problem can be from the dentist wanting to be an exclusive kind of dentist and/or the patient want a $40 steak for $25.

Tier IV
Is like a Ruth's Chris.
This place serves steak and they wouldn't dare serve just USDA.
This office is real nice. This office spends a lot of time on CE.
I would say it has patients that know they are in a Tier IV place and have some expectations (this also can be a problem. Patients with unattainable expectation). Great service, great plant, character.
Alot of "It would be my pleasure, sir."
And the patient comes in expecting to pay $40 for a $40 steak.

Tier IV is where I thought I wanted to be.
Don't think there aren't problems with every tier. In tier IV there is an issue with maintaining. If you are going to do comprehensive dentistry on EVERYONE then this is a really small niche of patients.
This is hard to maintain.

Now me, I am a Tier III dentist and I have a Tier III practice.
I do dabble in Tier IV dentistry but my home is III.
I don't want to be exclusive. I don't want to only treat a certain type of clientele. I want my place to be for everyone. I want to see families. I want to see CEO's and I want him or her to tell me about the newest acquisition of the company. I want to see Little Susie and I want her to tell me how she lost her first tooth. I want to see the college kid going to UCF and tell me about the latest keg party. I want to see people from my church.
I want to see people that say, "It is okay if I pay for that $11,000 treatment plan before we get started (and whip out cash). And I want to see the patient that can't afford me that still comes in (and I give them a discount). I want my patients to expect great service. I want my staff to say, "It was my pleasure".


So how do I do this.

But this is hard to do. I try to be everything to everyone and this is deadly combination.
I have the education to do a full mouth reconstruction and I have the education to do a pulpotomy on #B.
I have a office that we just renovated. We have two different areas in the reception area. One with a couch and fancy chairs for the uppity folks (double click on the image and make it bigger) and the other side has a TV and some toys.
I have the ability to serve the Tier IV patient that likes the atmosphere in our office.

I don't have a problem with any tier. Just like I wouldn't have a problem going into a McDonald's or a Denny's. But I know what I am getting there.
I also know that my expectations change when I am getting a Ruth's Chris steak. I would say to myself that my water glass has been empty for about 5 minutes and I am noticing it.

I am rambling again. I am going to stop here.

Now that I have explained to you the tiers I want to explain to you my thoughts.
I think things have changed. The client has changed. Has the dentist changed?
I will try to get into it next week.

I did go to a study club yesterday that a years worth of blogs information came out of it.
I want to write about it soon because I will forget about it, so look for that.


Have a great weekend,
It was 93 degrees here today.
It has rained once in about 3 months here.
We have been doing a rain dances.
Lots of swimming and dead grass.
Peace out,
john

Pride and Trust

Monday we were talking about Pride and what it means to you.

First, I saw the movie 21 and it was not very good. I read the book Bringing Down the House and it was much better. I give it a 4 out of 10.
I am a big Netflix guy and I watched one of the worst movies I have ever seen this weekend. It was called "Shoot'em up" with Clive Owen. I give it a -2 on a 0-10 scale.

Back to teeth.
On Monday I was saying that when I do a work that is better than average then I have no problems charging a fee that is more than average.

Only one problem, the patient doesn't know what is better than average work is.

If I do a filling and Joe Smoe does a filling. How does the patient know that mine is better?
They don't.

I, for instance, start this filling 10 years ago by taking tons of continuing education to know how to do this filling properly.
I have the best x-ray system to diagnose the decay better.
I have researched the best materials.
Then I buy and use the best materials.
I have a facility that is comfortable.
I have a staff that is trained to do this procedure better.
I use all the best tools.
I try to do the best filling I know how to.
Then I make myself available to them if there is ever a problem.

So what does the patient perceive as a good filling?

They may perceive a friendly staff. The may perceive a nice facility. They definitely perceive a good injection. They perceive comfort during the procedure and then they perceive comfort after.
And they perceive THE PRICE.
They don't understand materials. They don't understand technique. They don't recognize if someone takes off too much tooth structure. They don't understand why something would last longer by doing it better.
Did I mention they do understand price.

How many calls do we get.... How much do you charge for a crown? How much do you charge for a cleaning?
Cleaning that is a whole different blog. The patient doesn't know what a cleaning is. (I know you are not suppose to end a sentence with "is" but if the AGD wanted a Pulitzer Prize author, this dude would not be considered) So many of my patients come from a clinic setting practice that they were getting a free 20 minute cleanings.
This stuff drives me crazy. I work my ass off trying to be the best dentist I can be hiring the best people I can (hygienists) and they are getting away with this.
Then they tell the patient that they need a "deep cleaning" and they are going to have to pay for that.
So I ask if the dentist did a perio exam.
They say, "What do you mean?"
Did they take this probe and measure the depth of your gum pockets?
"Doc, I have no idea what you are talking about"
YEAH RIGHT, they NEED a deep cleaning. Don't get me started.

This is an idea of another blog. What clinics offer guys like and you? I think they have benefit to us and I will explain this soon.

Anyway, back to perception.
I think of ourselves a little like auto mechanics. Its a cash business and people have no idea what they are spending their money on. And, oh yeah it has to be done. This lends to huge trust factor.
It is funny when I bring my car in to the shop. The guy will tell me you have some carbon build up in your something and we need to do something with a something and then you a problem with the blah blah blah blah blah and blah blah blah $750. (See what I mean about the price.)
I say, "Well, Mike you have been my mechanic for years, I have no idea what you are talking about, no I don't want to see a picture of the carbon build up, so go ahead and do it. "
One time he actually showed me a photo of the carbon build up. I had no idea what I was looking at and if that was even my car. He was trying to inform me and educate me but...

I know, I know we are not like auto mechanics but it really comes down to trust.
Back to the perio thing a minute. In all my New Patient Exams I put my patients in our consultation room and we just talk. We start a relationship (as much as you can get in 15 minutes) and one of the things I talk about is gum disease. I explain to them that I am going to be doing a thorough gum exam. I explain this is what the gum disease looks like and this is how I examine for it.
It is like taking a intraoral photo of decay. This is taking the trust out of it (not that having trust in your care giver is bad) but you are involving them in the decision about them.
Then they know that if they have a bunch of 6mm pockets, they now know what that means. They understand what it means if they don't do anything and they understand why they need "deep cleanings". Then they know that after their deep cleanings they want those 6mm to become 3mm or less.

Back to fillings.
I suppose explaining is again key. But I am not going to spend half my day talking to people about what a filling is and how we do it. I am not going to go over what a good one looks like and what it means to use the best materials.
So it is going to have to come down to trust.

So if they come with a little trust in the office we all are a little better off. You know what I am saying...If they are referred to our office by someone the trust has started.
Imagine the conversation over some beers at your patients house. "If you are having that much trouble with your dentist, you should try mine. They are the best. All the stuff they have done for me has been great. And he is good looking to boot."
So they come in with some pre-conceived trust.
So we try at our office to have an internal marketing strategy. We do a terrible job at it but...
We try to send thank you letters to referrers. We try to send movie tickets. Dinner gift certificates, T-shirts...stuff like this (I have been try to get everyone on board to just send a $20 bill in the mail. I would love to get $20 in the mail, it would make me pay attention).

Have I answered my own question? Have we figured out what is going to make someone pay $50 more for my filling?

Well, why would someone pay $450 for a room at the Ritz when the Hilton down the road is $200 a night.
Why would someone pay $40 for a steak at Ruth's Chris when the Outback has a $18 Outback special (and it comes with a salad)?
Are the beds that much better at the Ritz? Is the meat that much better at Ruth's Chris?

Lets stop here.

Well, today I have been all over the board.
I am talking about fillings, then perio, then auto mechanics. Then I talk about internal marketing, then hotels.
Needless to say I don't have all the answers, so I babble.
I am going to take some of these and talk about them individually and maybe we can come up with something together.
If you have some clarity, please comment.

Talk to you Friday,
john

PS. Are you still reading?
Are you enjoying this stuff?
Have any ideas on topics?
Let me know by commenting or emailing me. Jgammichia@aol.com

Pride

I was a senior at the University of Florida (undergrad) and I had already been accepted to dental school, so I did what everyone does, I signed up for a blow off class. Ceramics.
Unbeknownst to me this was NOT a blow off class. These people take pottery very seriously.
I was in the ceramics lab more than I was studying for all my other classes and still pulling a low C.

But this is not what the blog is about. One night, I started home about 2am after working late on my final exam. I was taking a short cut through the higher level ceramics lab (instead of ashtrays, they are making dinnerware) when I came upon a trash can.
In this trash can was a very cool set of mugs (they might have been chalices but to a college student every thing that hold a liquid is a beer mug) and a matching pitcher.
I thought to myself, “Self, you have just scored some awesome fine china (if it is not plastic it is fine china)”.
So I started to dig into the trash can and gathering up my booty. When out from the senior ceramics lab came some dude screaming, “You can’t take that.”
I said, “The heck I can’t. It is in the trashcan and I am going to take it”

What he said has will affect the rest of my life.

He said, “What I meant was, I wish you would not take that stuff. You see I am the artist that made those. It is a big deal to me that they are not out in the world. If you turn those things over you will see that I have signed all of the “mugs” and the pitcher. (I indeed turned them over and saw his signature).
He continued, “I was not happy with the way they turned out and I wanted to throw them out. You see when I sign something, it has my name on it I want it to be good. Now people will associate the product with the maker. I don’t want people associating this product with me. Hence the trashcan.”
He said, “I will tell you what, I will trade you. I have some other stuff and if you give me the crappy ones I will GIVE you these that I really like.”
I thought the guy was totally off his rocker at the time. And at the time all I cared about was getting free fine china. So I made the trade.
I got the china but it was the lesson I learned from him that was the real jewel.

This guy was so adamant about not having work, that he was not proud of, out in the world. So much so that he would basically pay me not to take it.

So this is the motto I live by in my practice. Every thing that goes out of my office has my signature on it. Trust me this is not as easy as it sounds. It means redoing stuff. I means working harder on benign procedures.
And I try to make my staff feel the same way. Meaning, everything that THEY do has MY signature on it.

From sealants to bridges I make sure things are good (more like great) when they leave. I know I have talked about this before but I feel this strongly about this.
Imagine you are doing a root canal and you have a couple extra minutes in your schedule. So you go ahead and do the build-up. You tell the patient that you will bring them back for the crown next week
You throw something on there knowing they are coming back in a week.
Anyone ever used the thumb print method of build-ups.
What if you do a sloppy job on this build-up and they don’t come back?
This is what haunts me. I do something sloppy and they don’t come back.
So in order to not have this problem, I micro manage everything that goes out of here.
This is not always good either. My assistant says I am going to have an early heart attack because of it.
But I think better to be known as a perfectionist and die early than a slouch and be around for awhile.


Here is a build-up I did
.

How about kids teeth. Do you say, "Well they are going to come out in four years anyway."
NO WAY. Same thing.
Here is a quadrant on a kid. I did a sealant on the molar. I did a pulp and a big filling on the 2nd molar and a DO on the first molar.

Don't forget you can double click on the picture and it will go to life size.
Do you think this is easy? No.
Do you think this takes a lot of work? Yes.


Now you can take this to crowns and implants and bridges.
Well I think this work is above average so I charge above average prices.

I am going to pick this topic up, starting at pricing, on Wednesday.
I want to show you more photos too.

Hope you are having a great Monday.
I am going to see the movie 21 today.
I let you know how it is.
john

The associate

I told you all me associate starts on Monday.

I want to tell you the story about the whole thing.

My dad is almost 64 years old. About a year ago I started talking to him about what he is thinking about doing about the big "R" word.
This is a great time for us, because we really are getting along great. He is loving practicing but sees that he has a lot of interests other than dentistry and realizes now that he has the money to take off whenever he wants.
But also this is a great time to bring someone else in.
We have the luxury of doing this on our time schedule.
So I asked him, "how much longer do you need to practice (moneywise)?" He said about 3 years.
I said, "Well, why don't we start looking for an associate now. I think it will take a long time to find one. And when we do find one it may take a long time to get him (I will tell you about the HIM thing later) going."
I told my supply rep. to spread the word that we were looking for someone.
I put an add in the local dental society newsletter.

It said something to this effect...
Father and son practice looking for an associate. The practice is fully digital and excited about the opportunity to have someone join our family.
We work in a great community and have a great staff. In anyone is looking for a place to call home and become part of this practice and community and is looking for a career not a job, please call John blah, blah, blah.

I thought I would lay it on the line with the ad. I wanted people to know what they were getting into.

I can say that my ideal was something like this. I didn't want a new grad but I wanted someone younger than me. Not that I don't love new grads and there spunk. I remember how hard it was coming right out of school and how little I knew about real life dentistry. For some reason I thought it would be a male. I always thought my partner would love sports and I would come to work and we would talk about the game. We would talk about our next trip to whatever sporting event.
I hope this doesn't sound like I am being a sexist because I am not. I just had this mindset. I go to study clubs and me and the dudes (in the study club it is 8 to 1 guy to girl) talk about teeth and the latest game and what games so and so went to. We talk about stats and stuff like that.
I thought coming to work with an associate would be more of the same.

So the resumes started to come in. Dental students, residence, associates, displaced dentists. All women and NO men.
I interviewed about 11 women and zero men.
I thought about this alot. Why no men?
Do they not want to partner with two other dudes? Are they opening up there own places more than woman?
Do women appreciate associateships more than men?
Do they want to be with other dentists so they can have a family and still have a place to work?
I don't know the answers but I didn't dare ask one of them.

I did have two guys that I knew in town that I talked to about it.
One guy is a big Gator fan and is real unhappy with his associateship, he came by just to see how the magic happens here and we talked for a little bit. Then I never heard from him again. (I guess there was not much magic).
The other guy goes to my church. He is also unhappy in his present situation. We did a lot of talking and he says that my office was too far for him (10 miles from his house. I hear my BS meter going off).
That was it for the men.

So I started to change my mindset. What would it be like working with a woman?
I never really thought about it, but it was becoming more and more evident that it was going to be a woman. I started to warm up to it (it not her...that is how rumors get started).
Also, my staff is convinced that some mothers would prefer a woman dentist for their kids. And some people would prefer to have a woman dentist for themselves (I guess I could agree with them. If that is true, good. Then my patients will have that choice. Old, young, girl or boy).

The way I handled the resumes was, the people that said they were interested I first talked to them on the phone. I kind of felt them out for the kind of thing they were looking for.
Then if I enjoyed talking to them on the phone I would ask them for their email address. I had about 40 questions that I emailed to them and told them I wanted them to think about before we talked in person.
They were questions that were going to tell them about our practice and get them thinking outside the box a bit.
Like, How would you classify your management style?
What part of school did you love? (I was thinking if they loved the first two years of school and didn't like the second two, then we are not going to jive).
I asked them if they are passionate about dentistry.
What do they love and hate about dentistry?
How do you deal with conflict?
Things like this.

I interviewed at my office about 8 people.
To say the least I was very impressed. The problem I was having was they are very smart. I don't know if you have got this by now that I am not an intellectual. I am relationship kind of guy. I am a tooth kind of guy not a sum cum laude kind of guy. YouknowwhatIsayin?
Can my associate be smarter than me? I guess they are going to have to be.

As an aside, I was telling my wife about the process. When I told her they were all woman her ears poked up. What do you mean they are all women? Honey I don't know, they are the only ones that are responding to the ad.
As you can imagine my wife would rather me not spend alone time with another woman. I mean she realizes as a partner there might be many times that me and this dentist would have to spend a bunch of time together after work and stuff like that.
I have always been cautious of spending alone time with woman, other than my wife.
But at the office it is almost impossible. I stay after hours to do my work. So does some of my staff. Then all but one goes home. Then it is me and her for 20 minutes or so.
I always thought that the less you put yourself in bad situations the better.

Back to the search...
I narrowed it down to two.

Now up until then my father wasn't involved. So I told him, I have the top two and now I want him to get involved.
So we were going to have both candidates to our house for dinner with everyone"s spouse (at different times. Can you say CAT FIGHT?)

They were both super. But one stood out.
It was time to pull the trigger.
I mean to me, this is a big deal. I don't like change and this is a BIG change.
I called her and we made a start date.
By the way, my wife really like her as well. She was impressed by her and the way she carried herself. I guess it is a woman thing...I wouldn't understand.

Now, we have an associate. What the hell do we do now?

We have a practice that is doing well. We do not have a practice that is bursting at the seems.
I am very busy. We live in a town that is really growing. They are putting in commerce all over the place. For instance, there is a Home Depot 200 yards down the street and they are building a Lowes across the street from Home Depot.
There is a neighborhood across the street from us that has 600 homes in it. The neighborhood our practice is in front of has over 2000 homes in it. There is only two dentists on this side of town and we are one of them.
But we don't market ourselves. I don't have time. I haven't even been to a school in 8 years.
There are probably 10 elementary schools within a five mile radius of our office.
My thought process is that she starts at 2 days a week (she has another gig three days a week). My thought process is that I will give her all the new kids.
Now if she could build like I did it would look like this. See the kids and do a great job. The kids have parents and grandparents. The parents have neighbors and the parents have bosses and colleagues. And so on and so on.
So she has a couple of things on the books but really what I have her doing is going to a bunch of schools. This is the last month of school so I say hit them hard now and have a real busy summer.

You know, just getting yourself out there. Letting people know you exist.
Maybe Rotary, maybe Chamber of Commerce.
Junior League, stuff like this.
I thought about getting a website.
Stuff like this.

Just something going on in my life that I thought you should know about.
I could tell you all the ins and outs (like the other job she has is 5 miles away and she hasn't told her present boss about me or that she lives about 700 yards from our practice).
but it would really be way too long.

Have a great weekend,
I don't know about you but in Florida we are in our pool everyday.
Be jealous, be very jealous.
john

Deja Vu, part II

Now we are at the counter of Gate 29 and we have just seen the door close to our dreams of making it to Myrtle Beach at our desired time.

My wife is loosing it and starts with the "John, I am so sorry, I don't know whahappntometomakme....(she was crying and apologizing at the same time). I tried to stay as calm as I could. Getting hysterical was not going to make things any easier. Even though in my head, I was close to hysterical.

I forgot to tell you that when we were in the plane, waiting for the doors to open, I called my assistant. I told her to cancel the car because there was a good chance we were going to make this flight to Myrtle Beach.

Remember, if we couldn't make the flight to Myrtle Beach there were some options.
I talked to the guy at the counter and told him our dilemma. (right before talking to the guy in a calm manner, I thought about the yelling option, "YOU KNEW WE WERE COMING YOU MOTHER "F"er, THE FLIGHT ATTENDANT TOLD US YOU KNEW WE WERE COMING. DIDN'T YOUR COMPUTER TELL YOU WE WERE ON OUR WAY. WHY DIDN'T YOU WAIT FOR US?) Man did I want to reach over the counter and ring his little neck. I told myself, not to get hysterical. There is only room for one hysterical person (and that was my wife, at the present time. I love you honey, I know my pillow and blanket will be on the couch. This is too funny not to tell).
Anyway, I am talking to the guy at the counter and he puts us stand by for the Wilmington flight which leaves in 35 minutes and it is right across the way. And then he books us for the Charleston flight that is scheduled to leave at 11:15pm.

We go across the hall and let the woman at the counter that we are here and will wait for your call right here. I then call my assistant who I tell what to do. I need you to get me a rent a car with a GPS so I can get from Wilmington to Myrtle Beach. BUT there is a small chance you will be cancelling that and getting me a car from Charleston to Myrtle Beach.
WHAT!!?
"Just do it" I tell her. And she does it. She understands the stress I am under and is a huge help. I know I will pay for it later but it is worth it.

Okay the Wilmington flight. It is a 50 person plane and we are 1 and 2 on the STAND BY list.
Wouldn't you know it but ALL 50 people show up for this flight.
This must be the first time in history everyone showed for a flight.
Also the first time in history three flights in a row, all on time. Are you kidding me? When have, in the history of the world, there been three consecutive flights on time?
At this point when the Delta person lets us know that everyone was on the plane, my wife is in full breakdown mode.
I assure my wife it is okay (I know if I am nice to her, there is a real good chance for lovin' later on in the weekend) and that we will get there. We knew we were on the flight to Charleston and we were going to have to do this.
Now I call my assistant back and tell her to cancel the car in Wilmington and go with the car in Charleston. She is loosing it on the phone. I am telling her if she thinks she has it rough, try being in our shoes.
So we are now at the gate for the Charleston flight and it is LATE. Can you believe it? The flight we are on and are there and it is late. Now if one of the other flights were just five minutes late we would not be in this predicament.
We then realize we are going to get into Charleston after midnight. More like 12:30 and that the car rental place probably closes at midnight. OH SH#$!%@T . We immediately call Hertz, and they assure us they will wait for us.
Now we are on a promise from a dude we don't know that is in a totally different state than the one we are going in.

There is another part of the story I didn't get into but I will bring you up to speed. In the Atlanta airport when we were on standby for Wilmington we met this guy. Turns out he missed the same flight to Myrtle Beach as we did. But his problem was the airlines fault, so he tells us he has a hotel voucher. We told him we have the same problem as him. I told him that we had a car if we wanted it but we were going to try to get closer and then drive. I hear him out of the corner of my ear say, "Well, I am game." (visions of Planes, Trains and Automobiles in my head).
He was trying to tell me that if we wanted to drive that he would split the cost with us and the driving.
For a split second, I entertained it.
We missed this flight and he was standby behind us and he obviously missed it too. We didn't say anything to him after that so we assumed we heard the last from him.
So off we went to the Charleston gate and five minutes later he was rolls up to this gate.
Then we went and got a bite to eat and guess who sits on the table next to us. Then he tells me he is a Gator fan and strikes up a conversation.
Now I am getting a little suspicious that this guy is a weirdo. He hears us talking about getting a car in Charleston and asks us about it.
Then my wife and I start whispering to each other about how he is giving us the creeps.
Then he asked about if he could get the number to the rental car company we used.
Then we moved on to the gate and he rolls on up and tells us he is also on this flight.
Now it is officially creepy. And he tells us that he was not able to get a car because they were closed.
Now I just start envisioning him stabbing us in our rental car that my assistant reserved with her credit card. That would suck for her.
So we then went into full avoidance mode for the next two hours.
Then we are in the rental car line and see him coming. We get the agreement and run out the door (looking behind us the whole time). Weird.

So we get to Charleston and the car is waiting for us. This was a Toyota Corolla with a GPS system in it. Plug in the digits and start our 2 hour journey to Myrtle Beach. Oh by the way it is 1:15 am when we pull out of the airport.

3:15 am we roll up to the Sheraton. I asked for a 7:30 am wake up call. We settle in and crash.
You know when you go to a nice hotel and they have alarm clock on the nightstand. Well we were at a nice hotel and they had one of these sweet alarm clocks. And guess what happens when the person staying in this room the day before sets the alarm for 6:15. You guessed it.
6:15 comes along and it goes off. Pitch black in the room and we have no idea how to shut this fancy alarm clock off.
Needless to say, I was up and never going back to sleep.
I am simple going to have to give my lecture on fumes.

I did it. I think it went great.
I was asked to play golf in the tourney and my team won.
Ruth's Chris for celebration dinner.
Things are all good in the Gammichia world.
Then back to the hotel for an early bedtime (this time with the alarm clock pulled out of the wall).

Crazy stuff,
Talk to you Friday.
john

Deja Vu, all over again

Okay, in my last post I told you I was leaving in an hour to Myrtle Beach.
If you are new to this blog, I was giving a lecture for the South Carolina Dental Association at 9am the next morning.

Now my wife is my administrative assistant when it comes to plane reservations. For the first time in all my lectures she was going with me. Because of this, I really checked out when it came to getting on a plane. When I don't have to make a decision I don't force an issue. I ask, "When do you need me ready?"
So I have done absolutely nothing to get ready for the trip. My wife even asked me what I needed in my suitcase because she packs for me. (Yeah, I know, "must be nice", it is).
So we are hanging out about 4:30 on Friday waiting for my sister (who was watching the kids for the weekend). When I asked again, "What time EXACTLY is the flight?"
I was outside water some plants and my wife yells out that the flight is at 6:05 not 7:05.
WHAT?!!!
It is 4:30 and the airport is 25 miles away and it is the dead of rush hour on FRIDAY.
We put it into high gear, it was worth a try. We HAD to go and I HAVE to get to Myrtle Beach, we have to do something, so lets give this a go.
We were moving as fast as someone can move, and we made it to the highway. Traffic was terrible on the other side of the highway but moving pretty good on our side. It is a three road trip and the first two went pretty fast (they were both highways). The last leg of the trip is this 8 mile road with a traffic light about every 400 yards (it could be real bad) and it went pretty good.
Then I had to make a decision to take a park and ride or the airport parking. The benefit to the park and ride is that they drop you off right at the ticket counter but you run the risk of the bus waiting to fill up with people so it is not bringing only one couple on this trip or if the bus is already full you run the risk of being the last one dropped off.
But at the airport parking you run the risk of taking 15 minutes trying to find a space and then it being a mile from the terminal.
I decided to do the airport parking. We found a spot as soon as we got in the garage, then we started to RUN. Then there was a man in a golf cart that said, "get on, I will drive you", (Was this an angel from God. Was he telling us that we needed to rely on Him and He would take care of us. I was going with this) . I was feeling good. We were flying to the airport. We had too check in. We did it with little problem, except the computer would not give us seats. This was not a good sign. But we were still hopeful because it 5:35. If we get through security and get to the gate I think we have a chance.
In the Orlando airport after you leave the check-in area the airport opens up to this huge atrium area. There are shops, eateries, a hotel and a huge board with all the flights and times on it.
There was a sea of people, but we were moving to the security area when we realized that the sea of people were all waiting in line for the security check in.
OH, NO. OH MY FRICKING GOSH.
There was at least (and I am not exaggerating) 800 people in the security line. There were about 12 lines and they were all long.
My wife is a basket case. At this point we are holding it together alright.
It took almost 30 minutes to get through the line (what a zoo).

On an aside, there are security lines and they are labeled. One line is for expert traveler, the next line is for casual traveler, the next line is for families and the next is for people who are in need of assistance.
So we get in the expert line and think this is really going to move. The problem was two fold...the sign designating the lines were about 20 yards from the TSA dude who checks your ticket, the problem being the lines were 50 yards long.
Then there was a TSA person walking up and down the line and we told her there were families in the wrong line. She said she was not allowed to tell people they were in the wrong line.
Things that make you go hmmm.

After we made it through security we started to RUN. I am not kidding. I felt like OJ Simpson hauling a@#!%s through the terminal. We got there 6:07 and much to my dismay, the person at the desk is handing the person in the shoot a passenger list (and after this happens, that is it).
WE MISSED OUR FLIGHT.

Okay we had to get it together here because there was no stopping. Couldn't cry over spilled milk. At least we didn't have time to.
Our flight was suppose to take us to Atlanta where were to hop on a plane (after an hour and fifteen minute layover) and take it to Myrtle Beach.
There was another flight to Atlanta in one hour. The wheels started to churn. If we get on this flight there is still an outside chance we could still make our connecting flight.
At this point I called my assistant. I started to work on PLAN B.
I asked her to go online (there is no wireless Internet in this terminal) and rent us a car, with a GPS, in Atlanta. I figured if we missed the flight we would jump in a car and drive there. She informed me it was a 6 hour drive. That would mean we would get in at 2:30am.
Not a good option but still an option.

We were 3rd on the waiting list. And as it turns out we made it on this flight. Where things starting to turn our way?
The plane left on time and went pretty smoothly. I flight attendant was unbelievably nice. She knelt down next to us and mapped out everything we could do. If you can't make your connecting flight you still have a chance to fly into Wilmington and this is only about 80 miles from Myrtle Beach. If you can't get that, you can fly into Charleston and drive from there.
When we touched down in Atlanta things were looking pretty good. The attendant said, "Oh yeah it looks like you are going to make it. Hurry to the gate because they know you are coming. Their computer tells them you missed your first flight and it also tells them you are on this flight."
I asked her is there any way you can call the gate and tell them we are coming. She said, "NO, they don't allow us to do this. But it is the last flight of the night, they know you are coming, they usually will hold the door for you."
We were encouraged. Which made us run faster.
So the plane light came on and we were out the door in a hurry. We started to run, as everyone was yelling, "Good luck".
My wife is yelling, "Go on ahead", so I take off in a full gallop. I am yelling "excuse me" for what felt like a half a mile.
We got there at the EXACT time of the flight. Which apparently meant we missed it. I saw the tarmac pulling away from our plane.

WE MISSED THIS FLIGHT.

When my wife finally makes it up to the gate and I make her aware we missed this flight her eyes start to glaze over. She is sweating profusely and now apparently about to full on loose it.

This is where I am going to stop for the night.
This story is about half over because, lucky you, things did not get any better after this.

I am not making this stuff up.
Can you believe this?
It is funny to look back on this but when you are in it, not so funny.

I can't wait to tell you the rest of it.
See you Wednesday,
john