Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Depends on how they address me. If they walk in and say, "Well, D, how are you feeling today?", then I'm going to answer, "Well, Jim, frankly, I feel like shiiite." If they walk in and greet me as Mrs. DBLACKGA, I'll respond to Dr. Smith.
To be honest, the older I get, the more I get "Mrs. DBLACKGA" . . . :-)
Not authority as in 'the boss', authority as in 'knowledgable'
a (1) : a citation (as from a book or file) used in defense or support (2) : the source from which the citation is drawn He quoted extensively from the Bible, his sole authority.
b (1) : a conclusive statement or set of statements (such as an official decision of a court) (2) : a decision taken as a precedent (3) : testimony c : an individual cited or appealed to as an expert The prosecutor called the psychiatrist as an authority. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/authority
Quote:
Originally Posted by shyguylh
Um, nope. I think that a judge being angry if you don't call them "Judge Smith" or "The Honorable Smith" especially if you don't know they're a judge and so you call them "Mr. Smith" actually TRYING to be respectful, only for them to get all huffy and say "that's JUDGE Smith" I find it ridiculous. It's not like someone IN COURT called you "Hey Big Daddy how's it shaking" or such. They, outside of court, called you Mr. Smith trying to be respectful. Stop making such a fuss because they didn't call you "Judge" or "Honorable." Same goes for someone who's in the military and someone not knowing calls them "Mr Smith" instead of "Lieutenant Smith" or "Colonel Smith" or "Captain Smith."
Same thing here with Dr, that's all I'm saying.
Huh, where are you getting that from, that's not the premise of the OP at all. Totally different than the office or prefessional setting scenario presented in the original question.
If on a first visit, your physician introduces himself as "Doctor Jones", how do you respond? I've always responded in kind and said "I'm Mr. Smith, this is my wife"(if applicable). I introduce my children by their first names, but otherwise follow the formality set by the doctor. This has sometimes drawn an awkward response, like "Uhhh, OK...".
I can't imagine expecting my clients, those who are paying me, to address me in a more formal/reverential way than I address them, but this seems to be fairly common among doctors. What has been your experience?
I am always very comfortable with ANYONE calling me Don. I correct them immediately when they call me Mr. ______, and I tell them to please call me Don. Mr. is too formal for me.
But, when I am with a Dr (I was just at one yesterday when I hurt my knee) I ALWAYS call them DOCTOR. I respect their position. I even have a close acquaintance who is a well known surgeon, and I can not bring myself to call him John, even though he tells me to. I still call him Doctor. However, I still want them to call me Don.
Respectfully, but not obsequiously. I'm 30+ years his senior and have been his patient since he started practicing.
I call him Doctor to honor the years of study he put in to enable him to keep me vertical. He calls me by my first name. I don't care. If I met him on the street or in a non-health related venue, I'd probably call him Jimmy but that hasn't happened.
We are pretty casual and I do tease him about making his hospital rounds so early in the morning and accuse him of doing it so he can a. check up on what his patients are ordering from Dietary or b. hoping he'll be invited to share some of my scrambled eggs.
I crack him up when he tells me "Take a multi-vitamin, I do" and I tell him that I don't care what HE does, what would he prescribe for his mother?
I don't think I've ever referred to any of my doctors as they stood in front of me, talking to me, treating me, as anything. Because they're right in front of me talking to me and there's no need to say their name. In the office when I'm talking to the nurse or receptionist or whatever, they are referred to as Dr. Lastname by myself and the staff - "Dr. Lastname will be in shortly," or "Is Dr. Lastname or Dr. OtherLastname in today?" etc. I don't remember particular examples of my doctors addressing me by name at all, but that doesn't mean they've never called me by name, just that the times they may have were never significant enough to stick it in my mind. I don't care if my doctors were to call me by my first name or Ms. Lastname. It doesn't bother me, I don't have an inferiority complex regarding our titles. They're there to treat me, if they can fix what's wrong they can call me whatever they want (well not actually but hopefully you get the point - I'm not particular about first name or Ms. Lastname). I am in the midst of getting a professional degree (JD) and even then I don't expect everyone to address me by any title. I would only expect that when I'm working if necessary, so not in the doctor's office.
The exceptions were my pediatricians. To us kids, they were universally referred to as Dr. Firstname. I had three throughout my life, in two different practices, and this was how it was for all of them. The doctors themselves were fine with the name, we referred to them as Dr. Firstname, as did our parents, the staff, etc.
Serious question: Do you all refer to someone as Dr. if they have a PhD in something non-medical? There's this guy at my work that flips out at meetings if we don't call him Dr. He has a PhD in statistics or something.
Serious question: Do you all refer to someone as Dr. if they have a PhD in something non-medical? There's this guy at my work that flips out at meetings if we don't call him Dr. He has a PhD in statistics or something.
I used to work at a university, with lots of PhDs. The nice ones--those easy to work with--wanted to be called by their first names, the difficult ones insisted on Dr. and many special accommodations for their greatness.
Serious question: Do you all refer to someone as Dr. if they have a PhD in something non-medical? There's this guy at my work that flips out at meetings if we don't call him Dr. He has a PhD in statistics or something.
The only non medical titles I can remember using on a regular basis would have been in an educational setting, the school principal or superintendent for instance.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
