It's a shame, but as they say "Hind sight is 20/20" for a reason. Meaning lots of times you don't know what has really taken place until AFTER the problem has made itself apparent. As most of you know we just moved into our state of the art new office last August. It is my fourth "new" office in Oakland in 12 years. As our practice has taken off and become very successful we have had to move to bigger and better space. Along the way we have always tried to lead the field by offering new, cutting edge therapy that is done right. My patients who have been with me since the beginning have seen the most change and have asked me why we were adding these new services - and each time the answer was, "because I want the best care for my patients and I want it done right".
So what does this have to do with a plumber???
OK - so here it is. When we were building this new office we had VERY little time to get it done. So I worked out an arrangement to have my landlord's crews do the work. This move would greatly cut down on the projected time frames for getting the job done on time. Everything went great in the planning stage, but I did make one request. I asked my landlord to use MY plumber because he is fantastic, ethical and does the job RIGHT the first time. He and his family have also been patients for many years so I know the kind of guy he is. So Keith, (my plumber), put in a bid that was well under the other bids. He did that as a favor to me. Unfortunately, though, my landlord went back to "his guy" (are you getting the picture) and showed him Keith's bid. This guy under-bid Keith by a couple hundred dollars and my landlord went with him because HE WAS CHEAPER (again, are you getting the picture). Sadly, when I informed Keith he said to me, "Doc, there is no way you can do that job THE RIGHT WAY (emphasis mine) for that. This guy is cutting corners somewhere". I had no choice in the matter and the job was completed using THE OTHER GUY.
About a month or two into the move some of my staff and patients pointed out there was some water seeping out from both toilets in our bathrooms. It wasn't severe or consistent so we ignored it. But the problem persisted and I just wasn't comfortable with having something in my office that malfunctioned - because I demand excellence in every way possible. So, instead of talking to the landlord, I called Keith. When he came to the office Tuesday to see the issue he immediately said it wasn't the wax ring - there was something else. Suffice to say that when he removed the toilet and found that the OTHER GUY had not properly "roughed" the toilets and because of that there was a big GAP between the bottom of the toilet and the drain. The result? Well, I'm not gonna get too graphic - but let's say that when the toilets were flushed only "SOME" of what was supposed to go down the drain actually made it (by the way - we took pictures if you want to see them - yuck). Another "professional" who did a bad job. But it begs the question - IF THEY'RE BOTH PLUMBERS - DON'T THEY DO THE SAME THING?
WHAT'S THE MORAL TO THE STORY, DOC?
So here's the moral to the story : "IF YOU CHOOSE THE WRONG CHIROPRACTOR OR THE WRONG PLUMBER THE RESULT IS THE SAME - CRAP!!"
I know I used a bad word - but in this case, and in my recent experience - it was also "literal".
Before I go - one more thing. After 15 years of practice, with one of the country's larges practices, I have seen thousands and thousands of patients. One of the things that upsets me the most is when a new patient comes to our clinic with LOTS of problems and is looking for help - yet they refuse to understand that NOT ALL CHIROPRACTIC OFFICES are the same! There is a HUGE difference between what we do here and what 99% of the offices in the country do. The education, training, expertise, therapies, and most importantly, the RESULTS are completely different then anything they have ever experienced before. So, as my patient, please remember two things - first, our office is after PERFECTION when it comes to changing lives. And, second, the next time you have an opportunity to - please refer us your friend or family member KNOWING they will get the BEST POSSIBLE CARE, DONE RIGHT, THE FIRST TIME.
