A few years ago, having sworn off one day wonder conferences, I went to a two day one not too far from home. It was being held at a resort nestled deep within a national forest. It was October, so even if the conference were bad, I should get in some good hikes. Actually what I do is more of an amble. That part was great.
Our speaker for both days, Dr. Happy, had just published a book on happiness but the course was on another topic. The first morning he crossed the room to greet me as I entered the room. I was surprised to say the least. We past polite pleasantries and that was it.
He was an amiable speaker who told amusing stories but I noticed that his treatment stories all dated from his residency. It made me seriously wonder how long it had been since he'd treated anybody. He also name dropped a lot. And then he'd pull this annoying teaching trick where he'd set up a false choice eg How many people think this is A and how many people think this B? It would end up to be C because he hadn't given us all the information. I never raised my hand for that kind of silliness. Perhaps he noticed.
On the second day, I decided to buy his new book anyway and during a break I approached him to sign it. When I made my request, book and pen in hand, he became mildly agitated. Dr. Happy was definitely not happy. He launched into a rapid fire explanation. This was the wrong time to ask him to sign the book. The correct time was at the end of the day, at which time he'd be more than happy to sign the book, but he didn't have time to do it now. I'm totally puzzled. In the time it took him to explain why he couldn't sign the book now, he could have signed it. I bid him adieu, turned and walked away. As an afterthought he called out to me thanking me for buying his book.
I didn't stay afterwards for his signature because I had a fairly long drive ahead of me. I did read his book later. Now it collects dust on my shelves along with a lot of other pretty useless books. I know I haven't recommended it to anyone since nor have I given it out to any patients. I suspect Dr. Happy yells at his kids at lot.
2 comments:
Any sort of one-on-one pedagogy must be such a difficult balance of practice and teaching, if done right. Something tells me that this fellow might not be doing it right. ;)
Actually it reminded me of going the wrong way in the buffet line :)
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