SOCIAL

  lessons learned

Part 2: Which is Better #1 or #2?

Washington crossed the Delaware, but Jackson crossed the cylinder.

JACK RUNNINGER, O.D.

“That’s a very good answer!” a rheumatologist recently told my wife after she had given him a lengthy response. “However, not to the question I asked.” I thought it was funny. I don’t think she did.

Optometrists aren’t the only ones who get inappropriate answers from patients. But other professions don’t have to go through the ordeal of that burning question of the day, “Which is better, #1 or #2?” In last month’s exciting episode you may remember we discussed the answers, and we shall continue today.

What do you think?

“Dr. Maurice E. Zadeh, Roswell, Ga. lists his all time favorite response to the”#1 or #2” question as, “I don’t know, Doc. What do you think?”

When Dr. Xijing Xu, Warner Robins, Ga. asked a patient the 1 or 2 query, he got a really strange answer: “# 3.”

Ein or zwei?

Dr. Ron Hopping, the immediate past president of the AOA, has an innovative way of asking the question.

“Sometimes I’ll break it up with my junior high school patients who are starting to take languages in school. I will use uno, dos (Spanish), and then ein, zwei (German) and then ‘ichy, knee’ (Japanese),” he says.

Dr. Eric Colegrove, Demerost, Ga. uses a clever way to prod patients when they hesitate in answering. He says, “A little louder, please, I didn’t hear you.”

ILLUSTRATION BY AMY WUMMER

Dr. Ed Bennett, assistant dean at University of Missouri-St. Louis College of Optometry reminded me of the patients who come back the next day and say, “Doctor, yesterday I told you #1 was better, but I’ve thought about it all night…and I believe it was actually #2. Could you make that change in my glasses?”

Another common occurrence:

Doctor: “Which is better, 9 or 10?”

Patient: “Actually I liked #1 better than either one of them.”

More information

But the Jackson Cross Cylinder testing does give us other information. First, Dr. Hopping has discovered that engineers and highly competitive people always select #1.

Second, the cross cylinder test also can reveal if a husband is henpecked. For example:

Dr. Zadeh says when he asked a male patient, “Which is better, 1 or 2?” the patient replied, “Before I commit to either, I’d better consult with my wife.”

And Dr. Spindel tells of the patient who answered, “Can my wife help? She knows all the answers.”

Dr. David Winner, Roswell, Ga. says he was examining a gentleman, and his wife kept answering the questions for him. The patient finally said, “Honey, I get to answer these.”

Optimists and pessimists

And thirdly, Dr. Byron (By) Newman, San Diego Cal. says the test rapidly separates the optimists from the pessimists. “That’s good, that’s good too, and so is that,” says the optimist as you present various choices.

“That’s bad, so is that one, and that one is also very bad,” is the response of the pessimist.

Which always caused me to join them in the ranks of the pessimists. OM

JACK RUNNINGER, OUR CONSULTING EDITOR, LIVES IN ROME, GA. HE’S ALSO A PAST EDITOR OF OM. CONTACT HIM AT RUNNINGERJ@COMCAST.NET.