I was in Toronto this week where I had one of those brief but uplifting encounters that can really make your day. I was coming out of my hotel in a busy downtown area and I was running late for an important nearby engagement. I saw the line of cabs and hopped in the first available one.

I felt kind of sheepish when I gave the driver the address, because I realized that he had probably been waiting in that line for some time for his turn to get a passenger and I here I was asking for a ride just a few blocks away. I told him I was sorry.

He turned to me, and with great sincerity he said, "Please don't apologize, sir. That's what I am here for. It's my job to get you where you are going, whether that's across town or just down the street."

I was stunned. My experience with cab drivers is that they are often cranky or uncommunicative at best. This fellow, though, was cheerful and genuinely happy to serve, which made me feel great. I ended up giving him $20 for a $5 fare.

I love this cab driver's attitude, and I have a feeling he probably does better than most drivers when it comes to tips. I also suspect he has a greater feeling of job satisfaction than most of his colleagues. And it's because he realizes it all starts with him.

This is an approach we should all try to remember. As dentists, you are often under significant time pressures during the day. A patient who needs another minor adjustment, or an emergency patient, can seem like an imposition and an annoying disturbance in an already packed day. I'm sure it is tempting sometimes to let that frustration show and give the patient less than your full measure of goodwill.

But of course, you are not just in the clinical delivery business. You are also in the relationship-building business, and that means greeting every patient who gets in the chair with the same enthusiasm and sense of possibilities, whether they are "going across town or just down the street."

In this sense, there is no such thing as a "low-value" case. Every patient visit is another opportunity to reconnect and demonstrate your value, no matter what the procedure. You're a dentist. It's what you do. And like that cab driver, you should love doing it all.


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Commenter's Profile Image Barry Polansky
May 10th, 2013
Back in the sixties I drove a cab in NY, while going to dental school. I would cruise the airport and sit in lines for hours---and I would get the shorty.The shorty is what you described in your post. The passenger would get me off the line to take them from one terminal to another...Eastern Airlines to TWA back in those days. But for every shorty there was the chance to get the out-of-town job when we could double the meter. I learned back then to treat everyone the same---your next out of town job could be your next fare. Pretty Zen, man.