Small Talk

Small Talk and Business.

An ENT doc came and talked with my attending at lunch. A thirty minute spiel on her qualifications, availability, and kinda why he should send her patients pre-op in specific situations, etc etc.
It was selling herself as a business. It was a commercial. It was a business connection. It was a way to get her face out there and to say hey I'm a new doc in town, use me as a resource.
I would hate doing it.

Gah. I hate it. I don't want to be an adult.
There are specific things that make someone more successful at business. You do not necessarily have to do such things, but they definitely improve business connections, increase face time, make better introductions.

Availability.
Affability.
Ability.

In that order.
Good grief. May I never have to seriously deal with business.
I could do it. I mean, I know can do it. The art of selling yourself.
If there is a purpose behind meetings and hand shaking and smiling, sure I can do it. Talk to charm a person. Talk to impress. Talk for a specific reason. Talk and laugh and smile with your eyes so it looks like you are genuine, remember about the other person's family and children so it makes you seem friendlier.
Doesn't mean I like doing it. I hate the game of trying to pretend you both are friends.

My attending called me a little quiet.
I told him my quietness was because I did not see the point in saying anything except what was necessary. Not because I was shy.
He said, yes, I can see that.

Referrals and relationships between doctors... it's such a... mildly shady business. Kinda like drug reps. It's mildly shady, with potential for real corruption if someone truly does not have solid morals. And even for someone who does.... choosing the non-ethical path is sometimes extremely tempting (whether for money, for less hassle, for a variety of reasons).

Medicine is not medicine. It's a business in America.