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As a class, lawyers and doctors are some of the cheapest people you'll ever meet. They don't want to pay full price for anything. I have tons of stories about t

As a class, lawyers and doctors are some of the cheapest people you'll ever meet. They don't want to pay full price for anything. I have tons of stories about this; one of the most egregious was a lawyer who made over a million a year and sued his mechanic to avoid paying an $800 repair job to his daughter's old VW Bug.

HeWhoLurksLate 7y ago
That's a nice anecdote. Here's mine- my orthodontist gives out a little wooden token for not breaking anything, wearing one of their t-shirts to the appointment, and answering a trivia question right. You can either return 30 tokens for a $10 gift card (great for teenagers, who always need more Amazon money, it seems), or he has this nice big box that you can put tokens in. Once the box is full, he plans a trip and goes to some third-world country to help out for a bit (generally it's his summer vacation.) He has gone on a trip for the last eight or nine years. Maybe my population is skewed- two of the three doctors I see are Eagle Scouts, but not everyone is a cheapskate.
- glenneroo 7y ago
  That anecdote actually sounds like you're supporting GP's cheapskate doctor hypothesis... Wow only _30_ visits to the doctor and you get a $10 gift card? I have never been to an orthodontist but how often does one typically go? 30 times a year? Are those visits free? On top of that, you have do free advertising (t-shirt) for him, plus having some useless trivia knowledge... I hope the questions are simple enough for people to always get right? This would just be pure frustration for me, I have learned over the years to literally dread trivia "opportunities". And the best part... you can otherwise donate your paltry gift card to help him pay to go on vacation, albeit helping people, but you said vacation, therefore I'm guessing he works a couple days.
  - HeWhoLurksLate 7y ago
    The cost of the braces & treatment was competitively priced, too. It's almost always the parents who pay for it- the gift cards go to the teenagers and make them financially invested in being good to their faces. Are those visits free? The cost of visits is included in the overall price, as are replacement brackets / etc. for the first few. The advisement / planning process part is free, and they weren't pushy at all- my parents asked if my then-8-year-old sibling (he has overjet) needed braces, too, and they recommended waiting until all the baby teeth came out. [ For comparison, other companies / doctors I've heard of recommend them to young kids frequently, even though the teething process causes structural changes to the jaw and generally makes another round of braces a necessity]. On top of that, you have do free advertising (t-shirt) for him, The T-Shirts are really nice, TBH. The company name / logo was on the back, with a simple message on the front, and they were made of soft, puffy synthetic stuff. I liked wearing them- and wearing them was optional- there were a few times when I changed into the shirt in the bathroom five minutes before the appointment and took it off five minutes after- they're pretty lax about it. plus having some useless trivia knowledge... The trivia questions were pretty easy- "what is the outer layer of your teeth called?", "what is the capital of $state?" etc. It's not that big of a deal. something something vacation He pays for most of it, and it's a lot of work, in a third-world country. Not much by way of resorts there, though there are days off & hikes.

HeWhoLurksLate 7y ago

That's a nice anecdote. Here's mine- my orthodontist gives out a little wooden token for not breaking anything, wearing one of their t-shirts to the appointment, and answering a trivia question right. You can either return 30 tokens for a $10 gift card (great for teenagers, who always need more Amazon money, it seems), or he has this nice big box that you can put tokens in. Once the box is full, he plans a trip and goes to some third-world country to help out for a bit (generally it's his summer vacation.) He has gone on a trip for the last eight or nine years. Maybe my population is skewed- two of the three doctors I see are Eagle Scouts, but not everyone is a cheapskate.

glenneroo 7y ago
That anecdote actually sounds like you're supporting GP's cheapskate doctor hypothesis... Wow only _30_ visits to the doctor and you get a $10 gift card? I have never been to an orthodontist but how often does one typically go? 30 times a year? Are those visits free? On top of that, you have do free advertising (t-shirt) for him, plus having some useless trivia knowledge... I hope the questions are simple enough for people to always get right? This would just be pure frustration for me, I have learned over the years to literally dread trivia "opportunities". And the best part... you can otherwise donate your paltry gift card to help him pay to go on vacation, albeit helping people, but you said vacation, therefore I'm guessing he works a couple days.
- HeWhoLurksLate 7y ago
  The cost of the braces & treatment was competitively priced, too. It's almost always the parents who pay for it- the gift cards go to the teenagers and make them financially invested in being good to their faces. Are those visits free? The cost of visits is included in the overall price, as are replacement brackets / etc. for the first few. The advisement / planning process part is free, and they weren't pushy at all- my parents asked if my then-8-year-old sibling (he has overjet) needed braces, too, and they recommended waiting until all the baby teeth came out. [ For comparison, other companies / doctors I've heard of recommend them to young kids frequently, even though the teething process causes structural changes to the jaw and generally makes another round of braces a necessity]. On top of that, you have do free advertising (t-shirt) for him, The T-Shirts are really nice, TBH. The company name / logo was on the back, with a simple message on the front, and they were made of soft, puffy synthetic stuff. I liked wearing them- and wearing them was optional- there were a few times when I changed into the shirt in the bathroom five minutes before the appointment and took it off five minutes after- they're pretty lax about it. plus having some useless trivia knowledge... The trivia questions were pretty easy- "what is the outer layer of your teeth called?", "what is the capital of $state?" etc. It's not that big of a deal. something something vacation He pays for most of it, and it's a lot of work, in a third-world country. Not much by way of resorts there, though there are days off & hikes.