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Friday 12 February 2016

TWO REMINDERS IS TWO TOO MANY!

I would be the first to agree that my memory these days is not quite as sharp as it once was. I often find myself striding purposefully into a room only to stand there wondering what household task was so imperative a minute or two before; and leaving the kitchen whilst boiling eggs is decidedly on the `not to do’ list. However, when I make an appointment with the dentist on a Friday lunchtime for the following Wednesday morning I definitely do not need several reminders. I have a dread of dental visits and in the past have needed an anesthetist present before I could face the traumatic idea of a simple filling. Even my last routine clean demanded the same kind of numbing gas as that which is usually offered to those giving birth to twins. All in all, forgetting a dental appointment is not very likely although I agree that he (the dentist) and his staff are not necessarily going to be aware of that. Mr Chang is new, it seems and replaces Mr Lawson who has now retired. The first surprise was that Mr Chang turned out to be female and charming and introduced herself as Maddy. Her charisma did little to dispel the irritating fact is that a mere hour or two after making the appointment I was telephoned by the cheerful receptionist with the first `routine reminder’. I thanked her but thought it was odd. It got even odder when forty eight hours later whilst sitting over a glass of Chardonnay downtown with the husband I received a text advising me that I must respond `YES’ at once `or Immediately Ring the Practice’ to confirm my upcoming dental appointment. I sent back a less than polite response which no doubt was dumped into a delete bin as it did not fit the general parameters of the simple `YES’ that was demanded. The husband was philosophical and said they were probably only trying to be helpful to which I replied `Cow Crap’ or something similar. I did so hope I could calm down enough before Wednesday not to be horrendously rude to all and sundry when I got there. And in fact the charming Maddy managed to bring out the best in me although I have to be honest and say that the appointment did not proceed exactly without pain.

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