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Monday, April 23, 2012

It's a good thing I'm a mellow motherfucker

I didn't get my root canal and my soon-to-be ex dentist is rapidly approaching the top of my list when I go active.

I walked into the office and announced that I was there, calm and no need to call the law which of course completely unnerved all the other folks in the waiting room. I dumped my chew in the trash and picked up a copy of Time and the first thing that I saw was that they had decided that Claire Danes was in the top 100 most influential people of the year. Claire Danes the actress? Really??? I tossed the magazine in the trash where it belonged and just about that time the dental assistant hollered for me. Shit, they want to get rid of me quick. Right on.
I sat back in the chair and she looked at my chart and said that I was there for the doctor to check the tooth hole left by last week's extraction.
"Uh-uh. Root canal."
"No, not according to your chart." Then she looked at me and saw I was not real happy at the sudden turn of events. "I better go get Doctor."
"Yeah. Trot that ol' boy in here."

Pretty soon Hari the Hindu comes in and tells me that I need a root canal and because it's a molar I have to go to a specialist and that I am here now for a tooth hole checking.
I let him look at my tooth hole which took less than 5 seconds. "We could've done this shit over the phone, man. You told me last week I needed a root canal and now you're telling me that I'm here for a fucking referral because you don't do root canals on molars?" I was being pretty calm about the whole situation but Hari was getting real nervous.
Then he really fucked up and started chattering. "Yes. I will give you a referral and we will make you an appointment for a consultation. Then you will make an appointment for the procedure. After the procedure, you will return to me so can make the post and the crow......"
"Whoa whoa whoa. You have got to be fucking kidding me. You're standing there telling me with a straight face that I have at least 3 more visits for a FUCKING ROOT CANAL?  Answer me this: Why didn't you make the appointment for the consultation when I was in here last week?"
"I can extract the too...."
"You're starting to piss me off. I'm not pulling another tooth unless I have to. Fuck this shit."

I stopped off at the desk and had Shelley make the appointment with the specialist. She was real nice to me and got it done in about 3.5 seconds. No fucking way in hell was I gonna let Hari do any drilling on my head. I'll let a specialist do it and either have him do the post and crown or find another dentist. I walked out to the waiting room and saw it was empty. Good.

What's bad is that I have never treated any help or tradesmen in that manner before. If somebody gives me shitty service I'll keep my mouth shut, move on and conduct my business elsewhere. I rarely even complain to management, I just spend my money where I'm treated with civility.
Hey, if he wants to pad his pocket ripping off the insurance company with bullshit visits, good for him. None of my business - until he starts using me to do it. That's when I object.

2 comments:

  1. hey, at least he didn't want to extract 2 good teeth so he would have room to work on the bad one(as the
    paki my health care provider employs tried to do several years ago)...
    nope, no way, uh uh, never been back since...
    it cost me a bundle of cash to find a competent dentist and use her services but it was worth it...V45C

    ReplyDelete
  2. I suggest a new dentist. That asshole is just trying to get you in the office as many times as possible to bill for office visits and such; oldest trick in the book (next to claiming that you need work when you really don't).

    ReplyDelete

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