Oh, I was so prepared to post sarcastically about the horror that was my day. School holiday here, so the office was flooded with lots of kids and their drama. I confess, I never saw the big deal about dentists when I was a kid. Then, we never had a lot of money, so I was only taken there when there was a problem; so dentists always meant to me a release from pain. I was glad to see them.
But then, something happened in the last hour of the day. I caught a ray of sunshine.
There was a gentleman who called Friday; he said we had fixed up his daughter and now he needed our help – a crown had broken off with the tooth in it. I sighed heavily,as our emergency slots were already double booked and I was looking at coming home very late on my wife’s birthday. I ascertained he was not in pain, and he was fine waiting for Monday’s emergency slot.
I hate booking up emergency slots in advance, but sometimes it’s the only way to get home at anything approaching a decent hour. I do agonize over making people wait; often I’m right, and they can wait, but I’ve also been wrong, and that eats at me.
But today, this gentleman arrived early; the problem was not as severe as expected, and was fixed within twenty minutes. And as he left, he told me, in a very unmistakable New York accent, “I’m glad you could get me in so fast. Tryin’ to get this fixed back home woulda been a nightmare.”
So I had to ask. yes, new York City, born and raised. Worked Wall Street – in the trading pit, for God’s sake – for 42 years, retired, and followed his daughter and son-in-law down here, to Houston. “I love it here! I love the pace, and everybody’s so nice to each other! I’m not leavin’, I tell you that.”
The last few years, all I’ve heard about Texas has been quite negative, which is bewildering to a lifelong Texas boy. It was very nice … hell it was wonderful… to meet someone who not only liked the place, but appreciated that I got him in as quickly as I could. It wasn’t just a breath of fresh air, it was the whole damn oxygen tank. To put it in cynical hipster terms, he turned that day right around and put it in the plus column.
Tomorrow I will doubtless return to the usual collection of whiners and entitled jerks who are certain I work for them… but today, I was appreciated. So screw them.
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drfreex.com 
Freeman:Horror is your way, grasshopper. Don’t be surprised when the meal you prepare is served to you :D.Ah, a Dentist office. The modern day Horror movie. How appropriate that you should work in a pain venue. But that you WORK… that is worthy of a raised eyebrow.You wrote a funny horror movie once – Featuring both the dance of panic and the dance of joy and lizards on the lam. I’ve just returned from the Berlinale Film Market where it would have SOLD. You should contact your old partner and resurrect (forgive the word) that script. I’m reluctant to leave a phone number here but if you call the commonly used area code for cell phones in Houston with the last three digits being 107 you only need the prefix and first digit of the last 4… they are all the same – all FOUR are the same. Square root of 16. Call me old friend. Steve