So maybe I don't have a new dentist...

The BBQ Pit
1

I was so excited to get a dentist. And someone who is in my little village, right down the street from my house.

I walk into the waiting room. All the forms to fill out. While I am waiting for the pile of forms, I fixate on a Gideon bible on the table by the chairs. I am like, “What the heck is THAT doing here???” But…Gideon has a certain acceptableness in public places. It wasn’t like an NIV sitting out there to bask in all its glory.

Then I notice that there is a tv on. While I am filling out the forms. I think, “hey, I like this place. Cable for you to watch, just like in the auto repair shop.”

But as I fill out the forms, I notice this insistent Christian discussion à la 700 Club or worse, on the cable station. Jesus is ‘just really’ doing this or that, for the two women on the talk show.

Even worse, it’s apostolic prayer can do miracles hooey shit.

Ok just imagine you walk into your dentist’s, and they are playing Benny Hinn…

So I am thinking, “Hey, I am the client, and I don’t have to be forced to listen to religious programming just to get my teeth fixed.”

So I get up to chanmge the station.

Just as I would in the auto shop if it was on ESPN2 or something gross.

And to my horror I find out that it is the only channel. And then I realize…it’s a fucking videotape.

Someone made the voluntary decision to feed a sappy prayer warrior video Benny Hinn thing into the waiting room of a doctotr’s office.

I tell you I was steamed.

And then the dentist referred to his church, while cleaning my teeth.

Now I don’t think I am on any good grounds at all, as far as my rights to not being subjected to this crap.

But I think it is not only tacky, and offensive, but it borders on ethical impropriety.

I would like to do what the American dental Association thinks of this kind of discriminatory practice.

If that videotape is on again, I will walk out and transfer to another dentist.

And give him explicit reasons as to why.

I simply won’t let him get paid a monthly salary by my DHMO for preaching at me.

And for what it is worth, I would be as offended if I walked into a Buddhist dentist office and there was an altar in the corner. And into ANY business that was burning incense. And would be offended by a mass being performed on tv While-U-Wait.

Thing is, he is a kind of slimy nice guy. If he weren’t slimy…maybe there would be a place to go with a discussion. He had the same kind of syrupy slime air around him as do the people on those shows.

You know, I live with a bunch of farmers. And rednecks. And these uneducated folk, all churchgoers, have more sense and sensibility than the minority who go to the “Little Meadows Church” or the “Lighthouse” in the next town over, or the other one in the village next to mine, and who dominate the radio airwaves with their smooth-talking, poorly reasoned, unintelligent filth.

Give me a Mennonite, any day.

2

Odd question, but why wouldn’t you give your business to someplace burning incense? It’s usually not a religious thing, it’s a non-aerosol form of “air freshening”. At least, in my experience this is so. I could understand if it was an allergy problem, but otherwise it seems a bit of an over-reaction. I can see why you’d get offended otherwise though.

3
  1. Allergies
  2. It’s oppressive.
  3. I have a right to overreact if I want to. (Naturally :p)
4

(Not just allergies but intense asthma attack)

5

Wow! Ok, I can see that. Can’t you ask that they put it out because of this? I’ve asked people to stop burning incense because it merely made me sniffle and sneeze. I must be very careful what kinds of incense and other scented things I buy, to make certain I’m not allergic to them. I have to use incense because my husband has asthma, and can’t be around aerosal, but can be around most incenses. (Some make him sniffle too.)

Is there another place where you can get dental care, that is nearby? I hope so. Good luck with it all.

6

You don’t like his office, get a new dentist. That’s what I’d do. You weren’t “forced” to do anything.

Haj

7

Very weak rant. What? He “refered to his church”!!!??? How dare he!

Is he a good dentist? If so, keep him. Unless he’s ramming his religion down your throat with his drill, getting rid of him because of the religious “background buzz” is as petty as dropping him because you don’t like the decor.

What makes this “ethical impropriety” or “discriminatory practice” is beyond me. And I can’t imagine how uptight you’d have to be to find it offensive.

If it really does bother you so much, go find another dentist. Just warn him/her beforehand that they better not express a personal opinion about anything whatsoever, apart from your teeth. Nor give any indication that they have any interest in anything other than teeth, as you get very offended very easily.

8

Alas, I do rant weakly, I know. Would that I could rant with more gusto–this is my first rant.

(as I said, I haven’t got a leg to stand on, other than being annoyed and personally offended that he would find his professional office the appropriate place to broadcast a Benny Hinn tape)

But that image of getting his religion rammed down my throat with his drill…well…we are close to the mark.

And yes, poor decor does offend me! :smiley:

(the last doctor I went to had a fountain in his waiting room. One of those kinds that you get from a catalogue or costco, hanging on the wall. With fake ivy trailed over it. And red-orange and yellow vinyl covered chairs lined up along the walls underneath. And brown shag carpeting. V. offensive!)

9

In Calgary, we don’t consider public displays of religion in professional settings very appropriate. I would have had the same response you had, katerina, except I would have left when I saw the fundie bullshit on the tv. If a dentist here wants to cater to exclusively Christian clients, he’s free to do so, but I am also free to leave when I realize what kind of game he’s playing.

10

Find a new dentist, and tell this one exactly why you won’t be giving him your business. Encourage your friends to do so as well. Only way you’re going to get him to change.

11

Did the guy’s religion interefere with his ability to clean your teeth? If not, then who gives a shit how he spends his Sundays?

12

Katerina2’s problem with him isn’t the way he spends his Sundays, it’s how he brings it into his workdays, with her as an unwilling captive audience.

I agree with elfbabe on finding a new dentist, and letting this one know (matter of factly, not rudely) that she’s uncomfortable in his office environment and why. I doubt he’d change his habits, but if he starts to lose business at least he’ll have an inkling why.

I hesitate though, to suggest warning friends away from him. He may very well be a fine dentist, and they can decide for themselves whether his work is worth the proselytising.

13

I had an optometrist in Georgia who had a bunch of tracts in his office, but he never said anything to me about it. If he had, I’d have shortly found a new one, simply because it was his business to check my vision, not to check my religion.

I might put up with this from a dentist IF he was really good AND really good with scared-to-death-of-dental-work people like me. But he’d have to be damn good.

What’s that verse about go into your closets and pray instead of doing it on the street corner? Maybe he needs to hear it.

14

I’d probably find a new dentist too, and I’m a Christian. But nobody’s rights have been infringed here. You don’t have a right not to be offended, and as for being discriminated against, if you needed dental care that day badly enough, you could have shut your eyes and stopped your ears, and presumably he would have treated you anyway. It’s not like there was a sign saying “no non-Christians welcome here” or anything.

15

Why does the dentist give a shit how his customers spend their Sundays?

16

I read the OP and my mind jumped to a Marathon Man scenario.
"Are you feeling discomfort? I can give you relief…if you accept Jesus!!!

You know, you can tell him to just pipe down and do his job if ya want to.

17

Maybe I’d feel the outrage more if I knew who Benny Hinn is. Is he one of those super evil fucked up Christians like Fred Phelps, or what? Otherwise, the rant basically boils down to, “My dentist had a boring waiting room,” which is annoying, but hardly noteworthy.

18

I agree!

[/quote]

Heheh - funny, that was about the first thing that came into my head too.

[quote]

King James Version Study Bible, Red-letter Edition

Matthew Chapter 6

[quote]

1 Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.

2 Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.

3 But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth:

4 That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.

Matthew Ch. 6
**
5 And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.

6 But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.

7 But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. **

I’ve had occasion to lok that one up before for posting elsewhere, and found that, with great foresight, I had kept it on the comp.

19

(bolding mine)

That’s the point. It’s his office. If he wants to decorate it in crucifixes or Star Trek knicknacks or mounted elk heads from his hunting expeditions, that’s his right. He is not violating any ethical standards.

That said, you have a right to find another dentist. You do NOT have a right to tell him he can’t practice his religion as he sees fit. I would probably do the same thing as you, find another dentist. But I wouldn’t get my panties in a twist over it.

20

Thanks. I didn’t know where it was. This sort of over-the-top religiousity seems to call for it, though. It’s a far cry from the optometrist I mentioned. I mean, heck, where I was in Georgia the challenge would have been finding one who WASN’T some variety of Baptist or something. :slight_smile: And it might have even been relevent if he had asked simply because of all the small print in Bibles and stuff. I can’t figure out what my religion would have to do with my teeth, unless it was against my religion to brush them or something.

Benny Hinn is a slimy faith healer who always wears white suits. He’s pretty freaky.