Messy Mouths vs. Messy Kids: A Dentist's Dilemma
I am not sure what to make of today's reprint in For Better or For Worse. John Patterson talks about arbitrarily and irresponsibly cancelling all his patients' appointments so he can take a day because he doesn't feel like going to work. Then when the kids begin their usual mayhem, he determines that he would prefer to be at work. Elly looks happy at the possibility of John staying home and irritated when he decides to go to work. However, it is hard for me to view the strip without seeing the perspective of the poor patients, who have made arrangements to take time off their work in order to get dental work done, and who may have to suffer because of a flighty dentist. It's nice to know that John Patterson can afford the loss of income and the potential loss of patients to play these kinds of games. Of course, I have to remember that when this strip originally appeared, Dr. Rod Johnston was in Lynn Lake, Manitoba and was probably the only dentist for miles. He could get away with such an action, because there was no alternative for his patients but him or a very long drive to a different town.
You can't take those things for granted though. When pushed, that is what people will do. I grew up in a small town and there was one doctor in the whole town. That was the one we visited. I later learned, as I got older, that he was generally considered to be incompetent and a number of my school friends did, in fact, start driving long distances to see other doctors. My family never did, but fortunately we never had any serious illnesses in my youth.
Despite Elly's irritation with John, the ultimate moral of the story is that even when he doesn't want to go to work, John Patterson would be prefer to do that than stay at home with his unruly kids. The aspect of the kids which John does not like is their mess-making, and not actual poor behaviour. So, the morale of the story really is that John does not want to clean up his kids' messes, and he would rather go to work and stick his hands in people's mouths than do that.
You can't take those things for granted though. When pushed, that is what people will do. I grew up in a small town and there was one doctor in the whole town. That was the one we visited. I later learned, as I got older, that he was generally considered to be incompetent and a number of my school friends did, in fact, start driving long distances to see other doctors. My family never did, but fortunately we never had any serious illnesses in my youth.
Despite Elly's irritation with John, the ultimate moral of the story is that even when he doesn't want to go to work, John Patterson would be prefer to do that than stay at home with his unruly kids. The aspect of the kids which John does not like is their mess-making, and not actual poor behaviour. So, the morale of the story really is that John does not want to clean up his kids' messes, and he would rather go to work and stick his hands in people's mouths than do that.
posted by howard at 9:38 PM
5 Comments:
I expect that Rod, as the only dentist in the area, probably worked his share of weekends and evenings whenever emergencies arose. Also, he probably wound up cancelling flying dentist trips at short notice if the weather forecast was poor. There might have been days where, having just seen the forecast, he had to decide whether it was worth the risk to fly in a small plane or whether he should cancel his appointments and stay home. It could have been the latter situation which inspired this strip, even though it doesn't translate well to a suburban dentist in southern Ontario.
It could also be just idle talk. There are plenty of days when I talk about not wanting to go to work or class, and how I'd like to stay home, and hm maybe I will... and then the time comes to go, and I go. I admit that once when the cat threw up on the rug, I left for class early so I didn't have to deal with it. Not exactly the noblest of actions, but I don't think it would deserve that Glare of Elly's. Capitalized Glares should be reserved for serious occasions, or they won't ever be taken seriously. Which is exactly what happens in the Patterhaus. When your wife/mom is always looking bug-eyed, gobsmacked, or outraged to the point of wanting your spleen to explode, it becomes rather natural to ignore her.
howard,
Despite Elly's irritation with John, the ultimate moral of the story is that even when he doesn't want to go to work, John Patterson would be prefer to do that than stay at home with his unruly kids. The aspect of the kids which John does not like is their mess-making, and not actual poor behaviour.
Not that you can blame him. After all, he'd have to listen to Elly scream that he was cleaning them wrong and then endure the cold shoulder treatment for a month or so.
Clio,
Capitalized Glares should be reserved for serious occasions, or they won't ever be taken seriously. Which is exactly what happens in the Patterhaus. When your wife/mom is always looking bug-eyed, gobsmacked, or outraged to the point of wanting your spleen to explode, it becomes rather natural to ignore her.
Which only adds fuel to the fires of Elly's non-stop rage. If I had a dime for every strip that had her bellow that he never took her seriously, I'd be rich.
Hi, I recently came accross your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I dont know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.
It is a great challenge for dentists to have messy kids as their patients. I heard from an Orange County Dentistthat dentistry is a critical task and lives are at risk during a dental procedure, what more if the patients are kids??(sigh)that would be more critical.
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