Today I drove a friend to work. She’s without a car, works at a family buffet
restaurant, often pulls double shifts, and depends on tips to make enough money
to pay her bills. She works very hard as
a server, has an always-positive attitude, and enjoys many regular customers
who request seating in her section of the large restaurant. Because she is friendly and fun, quick and
efficient, always smiling and showing genuine care for her customers, they
reward her with generous tips. Daily, in
fact, she averages over twice the amount in tips as her co-workers.
On the way to work this morning, she told me she often
receives a question from co-workers:
“How do you manage to get so much more in tips than I do?” She said she gives a candid answer to the
questioner---“Because I like my customers; I enjoy being nice to them; I tell
them I appreciate their coming to eat with me and their generosity with tips;
and I always invite them to come back to see me soon.” If the co-worker questions her further,
Jennifer will again be candid: “I’ve
seen you act like you think the customer is a bother; you act annoyed if a
customer asks for something; you don’t smile very much; and it seems you’d
rather be anyplace else but here serving a customer.”
Now---contrast the buffet restaurant employee’s attitude
which my friend described to attitudes among your own dental team members. Could the very direct, plain-spoken answer my
friend gave to her co-worker describe the attitude of any of your team
members? If so, perhaps sharing the
following quotation with your team will provide a springboard for discussion
among the group about proper appreciation of patients.
A Patient
A patient is the most important
person ever in this office, either in person or otherwise.
A patient is not dependent on
us. We are dependent on her/him.
A
patient is NOT an interruption of our work, but the purpose of it.
We
are not doing the patient a favor by providing dental care; she/he is doing us
a favor by giving us the opportunity to do so.
A
patient is at the center of our practice; NOT on the outside.
A
patient is NOT someone to argue with---nobody ever won an argument with a
patient.
A
patient is a person who brings us her/his needs and values. It is our job to satisfy them with tender
loving care and to do so profitably to the patient and to ourselves.
Author unknown
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