How late are you open?


Today after lunch I made the mistake of picking up the phone ( Ida was still eating). The person on the phone wanted to know how late we were open today. Since Thanksgiving is tomorrow, and our last patient was scheduled from three to four ,I was looking forward going home.  I really didn't know what I should answer, so I asked the caller " Why are you asking?" Now normally I am more polite, but this caller hadn't identified herself or explained the reason for her question.There was a somewhat awkward pause and then the caller explained that her husband had a toothache and would like to be seen.

I could see, this was a call that Ida would be much better at handling, so I put the patient on hold and asked Ida if the caller could have her husband come right over. After all, I reasoned,  if they needed a referral, it would be better to not wait until all my specialists had left for the day.

The caller then told Ida that her husband was in excruciating pain and needed to see a dentist. Ida asked the caller to ask her husband to call us right back and we would see him in a half hour. We didn't get a return call and most likely this caller wanted a later appointment to handle her husbands emergency ( he might not be able to leave work she informed Ida).

We left the office on time and I was able to do some last minute shopping for deserts at the Maison Kaiser near my office. I am really looking forward to Thanksgiving and the upcoming four day weekend. I plan on attending the Greater New York Dental Meeting on Sunday. Its always fun and I enjoy meeting up with some of my dental friends while there!

from Ask Dr. Spindel - http://lspindelnycdds.blogspot.com/2017/11/how-late-are-you-open.html - http://lspindelnycdds.blogspot.com/

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