#1617205 - 06/15/19 07:44 AM
Communicating with people who are “out of your league.”
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Xenophile
Planeteer
Registered: 09/27/00
Posts: 19120
Loc: Sacramento, CA, USA
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We have some friends who are quite wealthy medical professionals. The man is a psychiatrist and his wife a psychologist with all kinds of alphabet-soup certifications. They own a practice in the area with three offices, and have a huge beautiful home in the foothills. We got to know them because our kids were friends who went to the same schools for years, and my wife became good friends with the lady.
We went to an informal party at their home this evening, and most of the guests were similarly wealthy professionals... medical doctors and such.
I was talking with our psychiatrist friend, who is a pretty down-to-earth guy, and another guy who was some sort of medical doctor... and we were making small talk about animals. The man I didn’t know talked about finding a very young fawn with some sort of developmental problem on his patio, and how they brought it to a nearby wildlife refuge for help. We exchanged a few similar stories, and then he talked about how his 10-year-old daughter had tried unsuccessfully to nurse a bird that had injured itself flying into their window. I tried to make a bit of a joke that he was lucky that his daughter didn’t expect him to be able to save the bird. “What kind of a doctor are you, anyway?” He gave me a blank look, said “Thoracic trauma,” and then walked away, apparently in a huff.
Well, alright then.
_________________________
"Bobby, I'm sorry you got a head like a potato. I really am."
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#1617213 - 06/15/19 11:24 AM
Communicating......
[Re: Xenophile]
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fabulousthunderbird
Planeteer
Registered: 07/17/11
Posts: 24122
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You should have slapped the little bitch. The huffy snob at the party, that is...
Edited by fabulousthunderbird (06/15/19 11:30 AM)
Edit Reason: Clarification
_________________________
"They walk among us, my son. By their ill-conceived and poorly executed facial hair shall ye know them..."
I am fonts
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#1617216 - 06/15/19 12:06 PM
Re: Communicating......
[Re: fabulousthunderbird]
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Clem
Planeteer
Registered: 06/16/99
Posts: 1786
Loc: West Chester, PA USA
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Jeez, Xeno. How could you be so rude to that guy? I mean he was a Thoracic Traumanatician or something important like that.
I once read an article about people who win the lottery tend to lose a lot of their old friends... not because the friends are looking for handouts, but because at social gatherings, a common conversation thread is about economic struggles (e.g., the price of gas or the cost of going to a ball game or saving for their kids' college education), and the new millionaires suddenly felt uncomfortably out of place and could no longer relate. So they try to hang out with people in their own wealth bracket and feel just as lost... because they don't have the history there and are looked on like they didn't earn their fortune like others there.
Makes you think.
-Clem
Or just slap the bitch like fab said.
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#1617218 - 06/15/19 12:24 PM
Re: Communicating......
[Re: Clem]
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pbrowne
Planeteer
Registered: 06/11/99
Posts: 6415
Loc: Loveland,CO,USA
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always a good idea to resort to violence - people usually respond positively to that.
if you decide to slap every person who you think is rude you will soon have no skin on your hand.
Edited by pbrowne (06/15/19 12:25 PM)
_________________________
Send two dozen roses to Room 424 and put "Emily, I love you" on the back of the bill. Groucho Marx
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#1617238 - 06/15/19 03:30 PM
Re: Communicating......
[Re: pbrowne]
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Mooseboy
That's "MR. Asshole" to you, buddy!
Loquacious Planeteer
Registered: 04/24/99
Posts: 37214
Loc: Black Mountain Hills of Dakota
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One of my friends ended up as a brain surgeon.
So one night he gets a panic call from the emergency room… a three-year-old boy had been running with a nail in his hand, fell, and the nail went straight into his forehead.
He rushed to the emergency room, did some x-rays and examinations, and found that the nail hadn't pierced or damaged the skull, nor was any brain trauma present. It was just stuck in the poor kid's skin.
So my buddy pulls out the nail, disinfects the wound, and slaps a bandage on it. Takes the kid out to the parents who are out of their minds with worry.
My buddy says, "Hey, he's okay, no problems, take him home." The parents say, "What will happen in the future?" Buddy says, "Well, he may have a future in carpentry…"
Parents not amused. My buddy's bedside manner needed some work.
_________________________
"My fingers go wiggle wiggle and the music goes jingle jangle and the crowd is happy"
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#1617251 - 06/15/19 04:23 PM
[Re: Xenophile]
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FalconEddy
Retired Mastering Marvel
Planeteer
Registered: 10/16/01
Posts: 10621
Loc: Litchfield, NH, USA
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Yeah, well, sometimes doctors might overanalyze an anecdote directed at them, and view it as a backhanded method of impugning their abilities; hence his return comment.
Just sayin'.
. . Falcon
_________________________
. . . but, what do I know?
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#1617254 - 06/15/19 04:27 PM
Re: Communicating......
[Re: Clem]
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Xenophile
Planeteer
Registered: 09/27/00
Posts: 19120
Loc: Sacramento, CA, USA
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I mean he was a Thoracic Traumanatician or something important like that.
Well, he deals with chest injuries. Car accidents, gunshot wounds... I'm sure he saves and loses patients every day. A job like that has to take an emotional toll. It seems to have cost this guy his sense of humor. Or it could well have just been my poor delivery.
Anyway, I'm grateful for people like him.
_________________________
"Bobby, I'm sorry you got a head like a potato. I really am."
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#1617275 - 06/15/19 07:55 PM
Re: Communicating......
[Re: Xenophile]
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Alan
Nice guy! Cuddly Alan
Planeteer
Registered: 01/30/00
Posts: 7941
Loc: Sauchie, Scotland, UK
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I walked into a library the other day and shouted to the clerk - "CAN I HAVE A FISH SUPPER PLEASE?"
She frowned at me and said "This is a library sir!"
I then whispered " Sorry honey! Can I have a fish supper please?"
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#1617319 - 06/16/19 12:24 AM
Re: Communicating......
[Re: Xenophile]
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Clem
Planeteer
Registered: 06/16/99
Posts: 1786
Loc: West Chester, PA USA
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I mean he was a Thoracic Traumanatician or something important like that. Well, he deals with chest injuries. Car accidents, gunshot wounds... I'm sure he saves and loses patients every day. A job like that has to take an emotional toll. It seems to have cost this guy his sense of humor. Or it could well have just been my poor delivery. Anyway, I'm grateful for people like him.
Absolutely. Any first responders or people who run toward's danger instead of away from it.
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#1617357 - 06/16/19 09:41 AM
Re: Communicating......
[Re: Clem]
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kendall
Planeteer
Registered: 02/10/02
Posts: 7350
Loc: amsterdam, netherlands
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Medical Doctors certainly have their hierarchical placements as well. Maybe he also was daily in higher company and you pulled back the (emotional) sheet.
_________________________
Humans are just smart enough to fool themselves.
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#1617400 - 06/16/19 09:30 PM
Re: Communicating......
[Re: kendall]
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Doofie
Doofie
Planeteer
Registered: 04/04/02
Posts: 14246
Loc: Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
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Perfect timing Alan.
Still, lol'ing.
_________________________
"On religion, the common man finds it to be true,
the wise man finds it foolish,
and the wealthy man finds it useful."
-Seneca The Younger ~76AD
I'm David McMillan. My friends call me Chuck.
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#1617477 - 06/17/19 03:25 PM
Re: Communicating......
[Re: Doofie]
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JazAddict
Planeteer
Registered: 05/17/04
Posts: 18011
Loc: The West Coast of Florida
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People that take themselves too seriously aren't gonna like chatting with me.....or you apparently. 
_________________________
Liberty is inversely proportional to government. http://www.bobminer.net  Da Bears   Bob Miner
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#1617489 - 06/17/19 04:56 PM
Re: Communicating......
[Re: JazAddict]
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Xenophile
Planeteer
Registered: 09/27/00
Posts: 19120
Loc: Sacramento, CA, USA
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Yeah, but it must be hard not to take yourself overly seriously when your job is a trauma surgeon. Kinda sad.
But I'm incurably irreverent. Usually people understand my humor when talking with me face-to-face. Not so much on social media, though.
_________________________
"Bobby, I'm sorry you got a head like a potato. I really am."
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#1617500 - 06/17/19 06:23 PM
Re: Communicating......
[Re: Xenophile]
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SkyWave
Planeteer
Registered: 10/15/12
Posts: 14757
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I imagine watching young people die of gunshot wounds and motor vehicle trauma cannot be much fun.
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