I have a personal belief that 30% of people are bad at their jobs, 45% are adequate at their job, and only 25% of people are actually good at their job. Yet probably 80% of people would say they are good at their job. When I tell this to people, most of them tend to agree, however it is hard for them to use it in their daily lives.
I guarantee you that 9 times out of 10, if you see a lady with a terrible hair cut, if you ask them who did it, they will say the same stylist they have been going to for years. In Taiwan there is a culture of sticking with somebody even if they are bad. They may look at is as being "polite" to think that somebody is not bad, so instead of thinking that somebody is bad at their job, they will just think that everybody must be like that. For example I've met people who have had terrible English teachers before, and when they finally have a good one they are shocked, as in their words "i just thought every teacher must be like that [bad] one I had."
One thing i try to preach to friends and students alike is the idea of getting a second opinion. There is this disturbing belief that doctors are gods, so people rarely want to get a second opinion. Needless to say this is quite dangerous and I have known people this has affected greatly, and even led to deaths.
Getting back to a lighter note, the picture above is from my own journey that I had trying to find a good dentist. In Taipei there are one or two dentist on every block. I know I say things like this a lot, but really each block has a few convenience stores, some lunch box restaurants, and at least one dentist. If you go back to my above ratio of how good or bad people are at their jobs, than having so many dentist means there are a lot of bad ones and lot of ones who are just ok.
After searching for years, I think I found a good one. In Taiwan a checkup and cleaning is 3 bucks and with that you get them picking off the plaque with the tiny hook (or rather electronic water based pick nowadays). They do have polishing, but that is a much larger added fee.
Often the dentists are not very gentle and will even have people with the strongest of gums having to rinse repeatedly through the cleaning. While I don't really care about this, it was shocking to go to this dentist who was very gentle and when i let out a small cough, he asked me in a concerned voice if he had hurt me.
Caring? How odd.
But the true thing that made him good is his determination to get everything clean. Most cleanings are kind of like going to the barber where afterwards you have to look at your teeth and say "oh you missed a spot." There was no need with this dentist, and he also threw in a polishing for free.
Something free? Lunacy!
I've only been to him one time, so I'm not ready to proclaim a superstar yet, but the picture above does say a lot. He was good enough to make me scan his card and email it to a friend who has also been on the lookout for a good doctor. I will definitely go back to see this doctor again, perhaps even once a month. I mean hey, 3 bucks for a cleaning, I'd be loosing money by not going!
