I love to be young. I love that I am young and I have a real job out of college. I have never wished to be older. The only time I ever I wished to be older is when I am at work. It’s been tough taking the places of two hygienists that are nearly triple my age. People are either pleasantly surprised or extremely skeptical. The fearful/skeptical one’s are the tough ones because they bombard me with questions and phrases like, “You are not DeAnn.” “What happened to DeAnn?” “But she knows the whole history with my teeth.” (so do I, it’s all written here) “When did you graduate?” “Where did you go to school?” “Why did you go out of state to go to school?” “You’re married? You better not have kids yet.” “Are you like, 12, or something?” (<– I have gotten that one twice now). It’s a little frustrating for me because even though I am young, it does not mean I am incompetent. I understand that people have been seeing the same hygienist for 25+ years, but come on people . . . Don’t hate me because I apparently look 12. I cleaned a young man’s teeth who is the same age as me and amongst our conversation he asked me how old I was and said, “Whoa, you’re the same age as me. I thought you were way older.” And that actually made me happy. Weird.
So I have mixed emotions. I am glad to be young and I want to enjoy my young days. But at the same time, I constantly wish I was older. I just want people to see me as a professional and trust what I do and say. But ya know, I do have a lot of patients that are excited, they request to have me again, or they fear me at first and love me at the end. That makes me really happy. But every so often I go out to greet my next patient and they shake my hand with skepticism, look me up and down, and the questions begin.
I just had to vent about that for a minute. Thanks guys.
7 replies on “I want to be old AND young”
It’s funny that you should write about this for 2 reasons…. 1. every time I go to the doctor, any doctor, who should always know my age because they have my chart, they go… oh I thought you were 18. Which is actually refreshing when the dermatologist says that…
2. I’ll tell you what is weird though… being at the store and hearing some dad or mom tell their kid, “honey watch out of that lady.” And I turn around looking for “the lady” and find out it’s just me.
PS I love the font here in the comment section. I might have to comment every day because I love it that much!
Thanks Amanda! I’m glad you understand this weird feeling… It’s annoying, people should just stop judging.
In my field of work, I actually like people thinking I look young. haha! 🙂 I like when people are surprised that I have kids. I think it’s a good thing to look young, but I can see how in the dental/medical field it would be frustrating bc people just assume you have no idea what you’re doing. I’ll admit, I’ve thought that before when a really young doctor comes in the room. It seems scary when they don’t have a ton of experience!
You have a cute, fresh face, Rachel. Live it up!
I’ve had salespeople come knocking on our door & ask if the homeowner is around & have to skeptically inquire as to whether I’m really the homeowner (they say they thought I was a teen; whether or not they’re telling the truth I do not know, but I’ll take it as a compliment regardless!)
That is so funny that sales people don’t believe you are the homeowner! That’s a great thing! I don’t think you look 16 though . . . But you do look amazing for having a 3rd on the way!
And ya know, I would much rather look young than old, but it is still frustrating sometimes. I had a patient the other day say, “Oh, I was hoping to have someone a little more mature.” Wellllllll sorrrrrrrrrry!
Actually, what we all really want is respect. Ageism hits at both ends of the spectrum, as I’ve noticed recently and remembered from days gone by. All we can do is remember the compliments, let the insensitive comments roll off and be forgotten, and persevere. At least now you can say that you graduated more than a year ago! 🙂
Yes, respect. That would be great. It doesn’t happen all the time, but once in a while I do get that patient who doesn’t respect. I do try to just let those obnoxious patients go. And remember the ones that rave about me!
I have found myself in this same situation and I agree that it is frustrating sometimes! It’s especially tough taking a spot from someone who everyone LOVED and has been going to for YEARS. You can’t replace them- and you don’t want to! But these people just gotta give us a chance before making their final judgment.
I’ll bet you are the cutest little hygienist. I would LOVE if I went to the dentist and saw that you got to be my hygienist! 🙂