Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Never Overestimate the Sophistication of the People You Meet

Today I went to the dentist, and to begin with the dental assistant, who I had never met before, acted very tentatively with me. So, in my never ending quest to find all the things going on in every situation I find myself in; I said to her " Instead of just doing something to me, how about if you give me some warning like" Now I am going to Xray your teeth." At that point the dental assistant told me she was a temp, not really familiar with the procedures in this office, and she further said she had been sent by a dental temp agency who told her she was temping for a dental assistant whose daughter had died, and she thought she was walking into a dental office where all the dentists, dental assistants and the patients would be in mourning, and very upset. 

So the temp had made up her mind to prevent any further mourning, by talking as little as possible to both the staff and the patients. Well, it turns out the absent dental assistants' niece had died, not that anyone dying is a cause for celebration, but at least it wasn't the dental assistants daughter who had died,  and all the staff and the patients in the office were not in mourning, all of which led to my not getting the bedside manner from the temp I should have gotten. To top that off, the dentist heard all this from the temp,  and began instructing the temp in how to help her  with my dental problem. 

One thing I did not want to hear while in pain in the dental chair, was one "professional" teaching another professional, while they were both knee deep into my mouth.

So that's how my day began.

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