[LargeFormat] Weekend trading

[rstein]

Dear Nieces and Nephews,

    At the cost of clogging the electric artery again I'll add some more to
the trading tale. As a professional I am allowed to open early, trade late,
and stay open all weekend if I want to. Freedom of a health profession,
hurray. But it comes at a cost that renders it impossible.

    Saturday is not an option for me.

    Sunday is fine but the overtime rates for the staff that must be present
would completely negate any additional profit. Plus I do not believe I could
keep my staff if I asked them to work Sunday - it is their day of rest.

    If I were to adopt the trading plan of a number of my competitors it
would mean cosmetic and aesthetic dentistry promoted at very high pressure.
I would sign myself off the Repatriation Department list and the old
soldiers and sailors would have to go stand in line at the state government
clinic. I would bleach everything in sight with as high percentage of
peroxide as I could ( short of producing an actual explosion in the
chair....) and I would be pushing anti-snore devices, plastic bite blocks,
and rubber mouthguards into anyone who walked in the door. I would be
sending out fridge magnets, fluffy toys, frightening letters, and suchlike
to gin up business. I would consider neon signs for the window and Captain
Marvel space suit uniforms for the staff. I would have 14 hygienists and a
nutritionist chained in the clinic and I would feed them on raw meat in the
case of the former and raw tofu in the case of the latter. I would have
every known electronic fund transfer machine sitting next to the chair  and
I would play on them like a Wurlitzer.

     In short - I would have a modern practise. As it is I just cure 'em as
they come in the door and hope for the best. But don't imagine that it is a
path of riches.

     Uncle Dick