Thursday, February 18, 2010

Lovers forever, face to face.

I started out my day with an 8 a.m. dentist appointment. This dentist is within walking distance ... of the apartment I lived in when I first moved to my fair city 11 years ago.

Now? It's a bit of a haul. But I'm lazy and don't want to find a new dentist. And I figure that it's only twice a year anyway.

So I hauled ass to get there by 8 a.m. and was quite proud of myself when I pulled into the parking lot at 8:01. Brilliance, thy name is Cha Cha.

I walked into the dentist's office. The receptionist recognized me immediately. "Susan! Good morning!"

Now, I was still sleepy, but I wasn't that out of it. "Umm, no. I'm Cha Cha."

"Ohhh," said the receptionist. "Take a seat."

A few minutes later, the hygienist came out. "Good morning, Susan. C'mon back."

"Umm, I'm Cha Cha?"

"Oh, right. C'mon back."

I was leery. But she had my chart and all the pertinent details were right. She even remembered that I'm freakishly sensitive to cold. I was doing OK until the soft rock hits radio station they were playing went right from Hall and Oates' "She's Gone" - again, brilliant! - to Don Henley and Stevie Nicks singing "Leather and Lace."

And all I could think about was My Boyfriend Dave Grohl and Will Ferrell and their dynamic interpretation of this classic.

Have you ever tried to stifle a laugh while you're getting your teeth cleaned?

Umm, yeah.

I wasn't terribly successful, and the hygienist thought I was in pain with my cold sensitivity. "Oh, Susan, are you OK? Here - let's rinse."

And then the song was over and the dentist came in and asked me, "Susan, how are you doing?"

I just went with it and got the hell out of there, so that I could get to Corporate Behemoth at a decent time and cry at my desk.

Obviously? Susan's had a very full day.

7 comments:

mel said...

Last week I had my teeth cleaned bright and early. That'll never happen again! Something about 8AM and the scratching between my teeth made me want to vomit. I'm totally a 2PM girl from here on out. I do love me some Wham! or Hall and Oates while I'm in the chair though. Maybe it was the Backstreet Boys over the Musak that made me feel sick???

My husband has this strange someone-else thing happen to him all the time! There's a dude at the local drug store who swears the husband is someone he knows. Even though they've discussed it time and time again. Everywhere we go he always gets greeted. When he explains that he's not so-and-so the person insists that husband must know the person in question. Nope.

I'm convinced the ole 'straight-laced' MIL has been around the neighborhood...or world.

Average Jane said...

I would have halted the whole procedure and demanded that they show you whose file they had pulled up after the second time someone called me the wrong name. I'm paranoid that way.

slow panic said...

I once temped in an office for a week and the boss was DETERMINED my name was Debbie -- even though it's Jodi -- good grief. I corrected him three times the first day and then just gave up. Debbie I was for that week.

Anonymous said...

I can't even comment because sometimes I am a ROYAL idiot with names. I call my kids by the wrong name all the time.

CheckerMom said...

At least you can take heart in knowing that the cry was with blindingly white sparkly teeth - Susan!

mel said...

hah! Green Girl's comment reminded me about my childhood. There were so many cousins and we were forever more at our grandparents' house running amok. I can't count the number of times I was called, simply, 'Oh! Shit. Come here!' because there were just too many names to keep straight in her head! :) Miss those days...

8 said...

You never know, maybe Susan WAS having a great day and you would have wanted to switch places with her. Then the dentists office would have been like the bar in "Cheers" and everyone knows your name....... :)