 Hello everybody, Andrea Mayesca here with Dental Owls. So you have clicked this video because you want to hear what not to do when you start working in a new office or when you start working at all. So you might be new, completely new, you're nervous and you're just like, I don't know where to start. I don't know what questions to ask. What am I supposed to be doing? So this will help you. So what not to do? Number one is do not show up late or do not show up right on time. Meaning if your first patient's at 9 a.m. in the morning, you should aim to be there for 8.30 a.m., half an hour early. But you might want to confirm this with your office first because sometimes they don't even have the doors open that early, it might be a quarter two, so 8.45. So you don't want to show up there at 8.30, be hanging around and being more and more nervous, right? Depending if it's your first time working or not. I remember when I was a temp, so I would get called to go to offices all the time. That's the first question that I would ask is when can I show up? I like to be there a half an hour early, but when do you open your doors for the morning? So, because there's nothing worse, as I said, showing up and hanging around, it's even worse when a patient's there and you're kind of making small talk, trying to be professional, but you're also thinking, why won't they just open the doors already? I have to get ready. So ask them what time they expect you to be there, or I wouldn't even say it like that. I would say I would love to come half an hour early. What time do you guys normally open up? You know, that kind of thing. So do not show up late. Another don't is don't ask too many questions. Meaning don't ask so many questions where you look brand new, especially in front of patients. You don't want to be asking them, oh, what are you doing there? I see you're adding some different material that I haven't seen before. I don't know, something like that. Don't ask too many questions that makes you look new. It's perfectly okay to ask, you know, if they're asking for you to find them the rubber dam, and for some reason you can't find it, well, then ask somebody where it is, you know? Like that's okay. Like it's okay to ask questions like that, but don't ask questions in front of a patient that makes you look new. If you guys have questions about that though, let me know because my next point is another don't, which is almost the opposite is do not ask questions. So that's a double negative. So don't sit there and not say anything and kind of twiddle your thumbs all day and you have no idea what's going on. It's okay to talk, it's okay to ask questions. Look alive, you know, look alive. There's nothing worse than a dental assistant, a dental hygienist, it doesn't matter who you are, but one that's not talking either to the patient, to the dentist, to the assistant, to whoever they're working with. Talk, make conversation, act like you like to work there. Act like you've been there for years. Even if you haven't, I totally understand that that can be a shy thing for a lot of people to just kind of get out of their shell a little bit, but we're all thinking when that dental assistant or that dental hygienist isn't talking to their patient, we're just kind of like, oh boy, they're gonna be too quiet, won't they? Because patients are nervous. They want you to talk, make conversation. Talk about the weather. I always, I don't know what it is. I talk about the weather. I say, oh, you know, it was such a nice weekend. I was so happy to be able to do some gardening outside, talk about things like that. Another don't is, well, it's kind of a do, I guess, the do and the don't, but pay attention to your patient's personality, meaning, so I guess don't not pay attention to your patient's personality, meaning when you're talking to them and they're giving you one word answers, that means you have that patient that doesn't want to talk. They might be so nervous that they're just not interested in talking, okay? That's okay. So if I'm talking about, just as an example, if I'm talking about the weather, I'm talking about how I did some gardening over the weekend and the patient doesn't say anything. Well, maybe they didn't hear me. So then I might say, oh, you know, did you do anything exciting over the weekend? And then they say, no, leave it at that. Do not keep asking them questions, do not talk their ear off because they might just be so nervous, they don't care and they don't want to listen. You will know, you will start to pick up on patients who like you to talk to them. You will quickly pick up on those patients who don't want you to talk to them. It's nothing personal, it's just they're nervous or they're just tired, you know, they don't want to talk. So pay attention to different patients' personalities. Another don't is do not sit there and do nothing. Even if you're patient, sorry guys, allergies here, even if your patient cancels or you just honestly don't have anything to do, I totally understand, especially if you're new, you might not know what to do. But don't sit around, ask somebody if they need help. I always go to the ladies up at the front and see if they want me to help them, meaning file charts. Anybody can file charts, that's easy. If they had asked me to call patients to rebook appointments or help with insurance, I wouldn't be able to do that just because I'm not, like I don't do that all the time. So I feel more comfortable doing things like filing charts, you know? So I will go up to them and say, hey, my patient canceled, they don't need my help in the back. Do you guys need me to file any charts for you? I would be happy to. And then that way too, like you can kind of hear, like if it's up at the front anyway, you can hear patients come in, you know, talking, you kind of get a feel for everybody's personalities. If for some reason they obviously do not need help, then go to the back, ask the assistant, the hygienist, even the dentist, you know, hey, can I help you with anything? The dentist may have a pile of charts on their desk that need to be filed or they haven't looked through them yet. It's hard to say, but you could always say, oh, I see you have a lot of charts on your desk. Do you need me to put those away for you? You know, ask people if they need help. It just makes you look good, okay? You don't have to do that all the time because when you start working, it will be nice. It will be nice when your patient knows shows because then you can actually sit, you can take a break, but not if you're new, you're not allowed to, unless it's your lunch hour of course, then yes, please have a lunch. Another don't, which some people may disagree with me on this one, but my other don't is do not leave the office for lunch. You can once you're comfortable, whatever, but when you're new, I do think it's a good idea to stay in the office for lunch because you can get to talk to other people, meet other people, plus you don't have a chance of being late, which you probably wouldn't be anyway, but it just, it kinda makes you look like you don't want to be with the office. It just makes you look like you don't want to socialize with the office. You don't wanna make conversation, which might be true and that's okay, but not when you're new. We love to see newbies talk to us, say they're having a nice time, say this is such a nice office, patients are so nice, talk about a difficult patient even, just talk to everybody over your lunchtime. Even if you're the only one having lunch at that time, somebody will likely come on in at some point and they will ask you, oh hey, how is everything? Do you have any questions? Oh, sorry guys, I feel like I have to sneeze, but it's not coming out, I hate that. So those are some of the clear don'ts. So if you guys have questions, let me know. Kind of quickly, I just thought about this, although I would hope you guys have this figured out by the time you start working, but hopefully you have talked about how much you are being paid and what your hours are. Do not leave that for your first day working. Talk about this before you even start to make sure you are paid what you want to be paid and you know what your hours are going to be because there's nothing worse than thinking your full time and then realizing, oh, I only have two shifts this week because everybody's canceled or oh, they're on vacation next week, oh my God, I didn't know that. Oh, I worked 12 hours today, it could go either way. Discuss your hours beforehand and how much money you're going to make, okay? Thank you guys for watching, just comment below if you have any questions and if you haven't done so yet, make sure to hit subscribe because I will be uploading lots of videos. So thank you guys so much for watching and I will talk to you guys later on.