Mean people suck

What up?

I forgot to tell you Wednesday that, on Monday, I did go to another office. I told you I would. I am formulating ideas for a couple of blogs because of it. I talked to my wife and she has given me the "go ahead" to take a couple of hours on a Monday and do it a couple more times.
It definitely was a good experience. Has anyone ever done this?
If you have please tell me about it.

I took my son (who doesn’t have school tomorrow) to see Transformers II last night.
The first Transformers was very good. It was PG-13 but there was nothing that a 8 year old couldn’t see, more like machine violence. This one was PG-13 and they were really pushing it.
Language, sex, violence. I was watching this movie like, “you have to be kidding me.”
It started at 9:15. It was over 2 and a half hours and it sucked. I fell asleep in the middle. Even Luke, who couldn’t wait to see this movie, said, “Dad, that movie was not very good.”
Luckily we only paid a $1.50 (and it wasn’t worth it).

On Wednesday I talked about how this economy has helped companies put service into perspective. They are finding that people want to feel good when they are spending their money.
Now today’s topic is kind of going to be the opposite.
I wanted to talk about the bad that this economy brings out in companies and people.
(by the way, another good thing about this economy is the mortgage rates are down…we are refinancing our house and we just locked into a 15 year note at 4 and 3/8. Are you kidding me? Our 15 year payments are going to be lower than our 30 year payment. Yeah baby. You should talk to your banker to see if it is a good time for you).
Focus John
Have you noticed how this economy is affecting your patients? They are certainly more crabby. I mean I get it, you can’t afford your electric bill and then your tooth breaks. This doesn’t lead to a pleasant experience for anyone at the dental office. I totally understand. It is just not the right time for this.
I try to be as understanding as possible and sometimes try to help them put off expensive treatment until things get better in their household but…what is going on at home should never make people down right mean.
I know it is tough out there; shoot it is tough in here.
You can always tell about someone’s character when the rubber meets the road.
When times are tough, how are you going to treat people? (I am not talking about how you treat your family because family always gets the worst of you [I know what you are thinking. Oh that is not right John that you go home and your wife and kids get the worst of you. Well it is what it is. I try to be cool when I get home and put on the dad hat and the awesome husband hat but must of the time I am exhausted when I get home. It is hard and it take a lot of energy being the great care free, high charisma dentist that I am]).
When you don’t have any money how do you treat people at the grocery store? At the bank?
Now who am I talking about? This economy is hitting everyone. The person who has a Toyota Tercel could have issues, the person with an S class Mercedes, the person on a motorcycle. Making those payments are just a little harder.
But are you going to be nasty to the car mechanic when your air conditioning needs to be fixed?
I can say this because as someone who offers a service, there is a tendency for me to be on the wrong end of this nastiness.
It is not everyone; I just think that when people are mean and they try to hide it and then their world starts to cave in…the true meanness comes out.
My wife is kind of one of those people. She gets upset with service people (I love my wife like crazy) because they followed through with a policy.
(And do you know why I don’t take care of the money in my house? Because at the end of the month I was like on a rampage. I was a jerk to everyone.
So now my wife does it and I can call her out on my blog).
I have to calm her down every time the tuition is due.


So let’s take this to companies.
My sister tried to take an item back to Wal-Mart. She bought a TV on an impulse that she didn’t need. Three days later she had buyer’s remorse and brought it back. In the UNOPENED box with the receipt.
They didn’t want to take it back. Now if you don’t know my sister, she is a total Italian spitfire and she was not leaving that store without her money back.
She said that she was doing yard work and for a break went down to Wal-mart to return this TV. She did admit that she looked really ragged. Now they gave her the hardest time.
At first they just said, “No.”
Then a non-yelling discussion ensued. Two other managers came over and she is thinking to herself, “What is the problem here? I have an unopened box and the receipt.”
But you have to understand that Wal-Mart probably has been dealing with so much theft. They have to be on their toes all the time. In the store, changing rooms, at the return desk, at the cash register; I bet it is bad.
So bad that they basically harass a normal customer. You have to treat everyone like a criminal so you get screwed less.
Before she got her money back they ended up having to open the box to make sure she wasn’t bringing back a box of rocks.
I don’t know the answer.
What I do know is we need to check ourselves. I know that treating people nasty is wrong, especially if they are just doing their job.
I know that I have to check myself all the time. I am constantly working on my character. It isn’t easy because most of the time you want to either cry or jump over the counter and strangle someone.
I think it is funny that one of the prayers I pray is that God will make me the person that people think I am.
We all put on this show all the time. I want to really be the person I am during my show.

Okay I felt like I was rambling the whole time. So I will end it here.

Have a good weekend.
Don’t be mean to people, it is not their fault.
Maybe this weekend, surprise them and be nice to them. I can tell you they won’t be expecting it.
John

I have been loving Dr. Ric’s videos. Here is one I found.
http://www.thejaylenoshow.com/video/clips/the-dan-band/1164139