Friday, November 4, 2011

She Doesn't Care About Me

Hey all. Hope you are having a good week. I changed the picture at the top to the after of the last one. This is an access filling through a crown. Turned out real nice, didn't it?

Thank you all who commented on Wednesday's blog. I still want more, so if you are reading this and didn't get to Wednesday's blog, go back and read it and fill out the survey. I am going to wait for a couple more people to fill out the survey and then we will talk about it.

To the young dentist that commented, bro (I don't know why but I assumed it was a man) we have all been there. Read the other surveys and see the correlation between age and happiness. We all know how hard it is being a young dentist. Know this: it will get easier. It gets easier and you learn how to deal with failure better. Did I tell you that somewhere in my 4th year out of school, I came home and asked my wife if she wouldn't mind me going back to school? I was miserable. So hang in there. I love that you love doing dentistry.

I watched “On Golden Pond” with my wife and oldest son last night. I remember how influential it was to me as a kid, and wanted my son to see this movie. Have you seen it? It is just plain AWESOME. I don't know if you know this, but Henry Fonda won his first Best Actor award for this movie but was too sick to accept the award (he ended up dying). This movie is so good. When I have seen about 15 really crappy movies in a row, I like to remind myself that there are good ones out there; this is one of them.

Here’s something funny. Do you have something on your body that you wish you could change? Maybe it is a mole; maybe teacher’s arms; maybe 100 pounds. For me, it is my back. I have a hairy back. I know, I know - TMI. But I have finally made an appointment to do the laser hair removal. In the past I have shaved it but it comes back. I have waxed it (by the way, this hurts like a mutha) and it still comes back. So I am going to bite the bullet and do this thing.

My wife keeps saying it doesn't bother her but it is not her that I am trying to please. It is me. I don't like it and I have the means to do something about it, so I am going to do it. My appointment is next Monday so I will let you know. It should be fun. I know you are shaking your head right now.

Okay, I don't know about you, but I have been busy. Not busy like I am producing a lot, because I am not. But busy like everyone wants a piece of me.

My wife has gotten us all iClouded up at our house. All our phones and iPads and computers are all synced. So our schedules are synced. I have to admit, this is a good thing. I am now using a calendar for the first time. My life is getting so crazy lately. I look at our calendar and there is something EVERY DAY. Sometimes there are three and four things that we have to do after work.

I don't know about you, but these Fall Festivals are going to kill me. I have a request almost 2-3 times a week to be at or speak at some church’s Fall Festival. I went to one this past weekend and it was a total bust. The people were super nice, but there was NO ONE there. And I am not exaggerating. My kids were the only three kids there.

But this week I have been seeing notes about this one Fall Festival that is next weekend. I think the girls up front have been trying to fight this woman off. I had a booth at the Apopka Taste of the Town and this woman came up and told me she was the one trying to get me to her Fall Festival. I told her I would look at my schedule but that I am extremely busy. She said okay and left.

The next day she was at my office. I asked her to let me look at my calendar. "I am busy at baseball practice from 5-7, then I have a party to go to from 7-9pm."

"Well, we have a 9pm time slot. Do you want me to put you in there?"

"As long as you don't mind me being a bit drunk because that party from 7-9pm is a drinking party." (Again, the AGD does not condone drinking to solve all your problems.)

I started looking on Saturday and told her nothing on Saturday would to work. I’ve got running, a baseball game, my son’s birthday party, etc. She kind of laughed it off but was wondering if I could come between the 7pm baseball and the 7pm party on Friday night.

This lady does not care about me. She cares about her. She is not going to take NO for an answer. She doesn't care about my family or me running from place to place. But I did end up saying I would do it because her church is literally just down the road (I could walk there).

She asked me to speak and I asked for how long. "How about 45 minutes?"

What!?!?

"What do you want me to speak about for 45 minutes?"

"How about how the mouth relates to the heart and how having a bad mouth can be bad for your heart?"

"Perfect. Now what do you want me to talk about for the last 40 minutes?"

I decided to go to her thing between my two things on Friday night and said goodbye. Next thing I know, I hear her up front talking about stuff up there with my people for another 45 minutes. We are trying to run a business here! I know she only cares about her thing, but she has to recognize that we are in the middle of our day and she can't be talking to one of my front desk people for 45 minutes.

It sucks because I want to help and I want my name to get out there, but not this way. Not being taken advantage of by people who don’t give a crap about me. This is the kind of thing I will be passive-aggressive with. I will either be 30 minutes late or just not show up.

Have a good weekend. I hope it is not that busy.

john

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Just say "no" if you feel you are being used but don't forget this lady has probably been given this job because noone else wanted it- prbably because others know she cannot say "no". Alternatively, why not team up with her and do a presentation together about something totally different. Show that you are more than just a dentist- too many of us get too wrapped in our dentist persona that when dark days come we have nothing to fall back on because we've forgotten that we are so much more than our professional role.

Anonymous said...

I'm that new dentist who commented last week. Thanks for the shout out, it really helps! I appreciate your blog very much. I have a lot to learn and reading about your "loud and proud" conservative dentistry is what I need to hear. Maybe I trust composite too much, but it is fun to work with, less expensive than porcelain, and enables enamel conservation. I enjoy reading about your successes with composite because it gives me more confidence.

Thanks for blogging and putting it all out there. This dentist keeps coming back for more.

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