Honesty

ME: What's new this week, CP?
CP: Just thinking about something a patient said to me last week.
MICE ELF: Oh? Do tell.
CP: He said "I like you."
ME: Was he high?
CP: No. He continued by saying that he liked my honesty.
MICE ELF: I suppose that is a worthy attribute to which many professionals should aspire.
CP: But he qualified it with: "You're direct. Some people don't like that and take that as being arrogant but you don't sugarcoat the truth. It may not be what they want to hear, but you simply restate it for them."
ME: Nice.
MICE ELF: Why were you reflecting on this nice compliment?
CP: I've always believed in being honest. Whether it's the brutal or plain kind, giving the facts is the best course.
ME: You have a need to be right, don't you?
CP: Perhaps. I just don't let people's emotions interfere with my facts.
MICE ELF: Was this that transfer from last month?
CP: Yes.
ME: About the guy who argued with you?
CP: Yes.
MICE ELF: Why were you reflecting on that particular interaction?
CP: His mom came in the other day and tried to get a refund. We explicitly told her, if she paid cash and bypassed the insurance, there was a good chance we could not refund her; especially if the prior authorisation was not backdated. Not only were the prescriptions transferred to another pharmacy, but the insurance changed from the previous month and it had been over 5 weeks since they picked up the prescriptions.
ME: So he sent his mommy in to face you?
CP: Which made me think: I love being honest. It gives me great pleasure when people are so embarrassed about making fools of themselves that that is the reason they transfer.
MICE ELF: How did his mommy respond?
CP: She was obviously unhappy and kept trying to provoke me. I kept repeating the facts and gave her a stern "I-told-you-so" about her assuming all the risk by paying cash which, at the time, she swore he needed "or he'd die".
ME: How'd that go over?
CP: She tried again to make me feel guilty for charging cash to someone who had insurance and that I should have known not to charge them. I told her "you can't have it both ways: either he's going to die without his Trazodone or he isn't. You made the choice to pay cash thereby making the decision for me. You can't say I took advantage when I advised against your decision".
MICE ELF: To which she replied?
CP: Something along the lines of the punchline to the Benzonatate joke.
ME: Why are Tesslon Perles prescribed?
MICE ELF: Fuh Cough.
CP: Pretty much. But there wasn't much venom behind it. It was a half-hearted attempt at best.
ME: He really transferred out of embarrassment?
MICE ELF: Then sent his mommy to fight for him?
CP: Yep. At least I like to believe that's the reason. I've had it happen a number of times.
ME: Classic.
CP: Remember, just because you don't want to hear it, that doesn't make it any less true.