A Doc's Life is a underground Medical Blog about some poor Singapore doctors. They are sibei sian and very buay song. Best practices not observed!
(Warning: Grammar is non existent in this blog. Those obsessively compulsive about good English please go no further and book an appointment to see your psychiatrist in Singapore.)

Sunday, October 30, 2005

No Pride, Just Prejudice

I don’t know if you have this experience but when you tell people that you are a doctor, unconsciously their eyes become wide open. In different scenarios this can mean different things.

1) During a date with a pretty girl:
Don’t ask me how you landed yourself in a hot date without telling her you are a doctor in the first place. Assuming that you went for blind date courtesy of SDU and you were fortunate enough not to be on call, your date was probably thinking, “Wah loctor! Good catch wor!”

2) During a meet-the-parents session:
Again assuming that you had a good posting and had time to actually go pak tor (in Kent Ridge Park), things went your way (or actually her way) and you got to meet her parents. You tell your mother-in-law to be that you are a doctor and she must be thinking, “Way to go ah girl! You made it liao!” At least you would be treated better than Gaylord M. Focker in my favourite movie, Meet the Parents.

3) During your wedding dinner:
Your head of department was manic and granted you marriage leave. You had no other valid reasons to siam and there you were in your tuxedo Her relatives find out that you are a doctor and they would be cursing under their breaths, “I know I give less ang bao!”

4) When you see a financial planner:
Your mother-in-law’s cousin’s son happened to have just graduated as a financial planner. You had no choice but to entertain him or face terrible backlash. Amidst all the financial jargons he was dishing out to confuse you, you swore you saw those dollar signs flashing in his eyes when he found out you are a doctor. “Commission lai liao!”

5) You went to the wet market to buy fish (DHA good for baby mah) because your wife was too gravid to do so:
You told the fishmonger casually you were a doctor and he recommended some special kelong fish for you at a very special price. Just that there are no kelongs in Singapore anymore and you found out later the price was indeed quite special.

Actually doctors are just like everyone else except that we work long hours, can probably hold our bladder longer (but we do get renal calculi), can remain calm and composed in the face of verbal abuse (sometimes by patients, mostly by our professors) and we call all this professionalism.

36 comments:

  1. Anonymous7:31 PM

    kan pro sial... nice post... at least something related to your occupation? noticed that your readership has plummeted... L(

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  2. nvm the readership lah, if i write and then i read and then i laugh. enuff liao.

    thanks bro for reading anyway!

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  3. Anonymous8:26 PM

    ey, dr blog seems like your head pops has stayed consistently at 99?

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  4. my health economics do highlight that doc's wages are higher than average (dont hate economists haha), even accounting for the hours, and especially dealing with subsidised university education...

    so hehee, rich doc!!
    nxt time when u make it bigger, remember me!!

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  5. dear cherub, gotta compare apples to apples. how about lawyer's salary?

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  6. Anonymous10:01 PM

    Hey Doc,
    Doctors quite free wad. Some even have time to go round in circles in ITE and break world records. What's your take on this?

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  7. Anonymous10:20 PM

    sobriquet - i think you dont know the word "sacrifice" . very sad indeed.

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  8. sobriquet, we do that all the time in hospitals, going round and round and round and round......

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  9. Anonymous10:36 PM

    hahaha So true for all the points raised LOL You forgot one, at the wedding, you suddenly get strangers asking for on-the-spot consultations LOL esp.. angmor loctor hor...

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  10. Anonymous8:26 AM

    hey i like this post! interesting :) dun worry u wun lose me as ur reader!

    anyway, like wat anon@8.26pm said...ya lor why ur head pops foRever stuck at 99? u did it on purpose ah?

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  11. its becoz xiaoming said he will be making a real counter for me instead of me having to manually update.

    xiaoming, i'm still waiting!

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  12. Anonymous10:51 AM

    Thanks for the interesting post!

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  13. Anonymous11:55 AM

    Yes, everyone thinks that it's such a big deal to be able to be married to a doc.

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  14. Anonymous12:07 PM

    To another doc's wife,

    Yeah man! My wife says everytime she meets her friends they ask her why she has to do her own business. She should be living the life of a tai tai already. Do you get that?

    Facials and manicures every other day, shopping sprees weekly that kind of thing.

    People are so out of touch with reality!

    No wonder people still hope their kids become doctors.

    Well good luck to them :)

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  15. Anonymous12:21 PM

    But my hubby thinks that a char kway teow man earns more. He thinks doctoring should be a part-time job. Hahaha...

    I also hope that my kids will become doctors too even though my hubby thinks otherwise. Afterall, TRUE docs can really make a diff in pple's life. e.g. waiving charges, SARS...

    U think so?

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  16. the pay seems good until you factor in the $30k bond per year you gotta pay for leaving the govt sector. not to mention malpractice insurance etc.

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  17. you're one funny doc. but seriously i wouldn't wanna date a doc. they are consistantly busy..busy...busy...

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  18. lol... dr og, lawyer still wins..but tats america...

    anyway, dentists got best pay per hour. and they also got heavy subsidies for their college... lol

    shld hv been a dentist!

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  19. hmm... people really widen their eyes meh?

    went to a sdu event last year (no, not to find a partner, but the cruise quite cheap, so go lor), and there was a doctor in the midst. we didn't give a dem leh.

    some women who're keen on guys just coz they're doctors, are probably superficial.

    it's men with good character (and all the intangibles) who are enticing lah. not doctors.

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  20. Anonymous8:30 PM

    dr blog, time to pick up your pace in writing new articles.

    too long no new articles already.

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  21. dear anon @ 830pm, eh you mean i can't rest on public holidays? you sound like my boss..... have mercy!

    dear tpt, i believe you when you say you went to the cruise becoz its cheap.... really! :P

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  22. Anonymous10:00 PM

    anon@830pm: oh, just a plain remark. not meant to sound like your boss. just miss reading your new article. no offense

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  23. Anonymous10:01 PM

    anon@830pm: oh, just a plain remark. not meant to sound like your boss. just miss reading your new article. no offense

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  24. Anonymous10:01 PM

    anon@830pm: oh, just a plain remark. not meant to sound like your boss. just miss reading your new article. no offense

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  25. eve: thanks!

    to all: have a good public holiday!

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  26. Anonymous1:34 AM

    doctor, u think girls who like lokuns are superficial?

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  27. dear anon, who had 3 similar comments. i was just pulling your leg! No worries man!

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  28. Anonymous10:57 AM

    Hey Folks, not all lokun are good people leh. Some are truly nice and sincere, some pretend to be nice and some are relly disgusting people. Work with some that really irks me :p

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  29. Anonymous10:59 AM

    so dr blog, what happen to the store keeper daughter you are interested in ? kay poh singaporean. sigh.

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  30. Anonymous11:00 AM

    A doctor's wife will get: WAH! Good life! No need to work can be tai tai already.

    Salesperson in shop, upon seeing your husband's credit card with the title "DR" on it gives a wide grin. And in an about turn, the two of you get impeccable service.

    Drawbacks. If you're appealing against a parking fine with HDB, URA, TP what not. Never, ever reveal you're a doctor. ;)

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  31. dear anon @ 10:59, I will get the relevant dr blog to answer your question. until then, have no idea what you tokking about leh....

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  32. Anonymous4:58 PM

    dr blog@12:31pm: so are you the one who wrote mao mao episodes?

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  33. Anonymous4:58 PM

    what happen to the other dr blogs?
    seems very quiet nowadays huh?

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  34. hmmm....

    so the money/kim guay (turtle)/treasure chest is just a myth?

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  35. Anonymous12:48 PM

    medical student time... pay big bucks to study like there's no tml..
    after graduation... work & worry bout paying back study loans.. & have pple thinking u're earning big bucks when u're in fact in heavy debts...

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