Televangelism and A La Carte Cable TV

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Ahhh, my 80% rule. 80% bad, 20% good, no matter the profession, what do you think?

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80% of all medical doctors are bad at what they do?80% of all police officers?Soldiers in the US armed forces?

{qs80% of all medical doctors are bad at what they do?80% of all police officers?Soldiers in the US armed forces?[/qs]Of the 100 or so people that I presented this to, you are the first to challenge this.You pose a complicated question, so I will try to clarify.80% of doctors, oh yea baby, and I am being generous. After watching myself be misdiagnosed several times, and doctors almost killing my son twice, most people would agree that it is hard to find a good doctor. I am not challenging thier education, just how well they apply it.80% of police offficers? Surely you are kidding me. Most cops I know are corrupt. This makes what they know and how to apply it bad. Again, I am not challenging their actual knowledge. Are they doing a dangerous job? Of course. Does this give them a right to eat donuts 24-7, no.80% of soldiers?
You know what, I wrote a whole thing explaining it, but I just deleted it. I will not even say anything that would remotely insult the very people that fight to give me my freedom. Lets just say that things can be relative.
What one must ask one self is, just what makes a good soldier? Their honor is not in question here, only the ability. If it is based on honor alone, then 80% doesn't work.try to find a good car mechanic, a good dentist, a good plumber, a good restaurant, you will see just how close that 80% rule is.
Your smart, you should realize this.

Funny thing; for all the professions you mention that I have come in contact with (and I'm not the youngest on this site so that is a lot) and it includes docs, the military of a couple of countries and several levels, cops, firemen, mechanics, dentists, plumbers and restaurants I'd say that the 80% rule applies.They are mostly at least dammed competent at their jobs and many are astonishingly good. I think you need to do a better job of selection; it can't be actual bad luck that is leading you so wrong.

I think 80% might be a bit too high, but rat's point is taken. In 1995 I got very, very sick, so sick that I was unable to do almost anything. The worst aspect was an absolutely unbearable nausea. The doctor I had known and trusted all my life diagnosed me with bronchitis - of all things - for the simple reason that I coughed once while I was in his office. He shot me up with some sort of antibiotic and the next day I was jaundiced, and thus even sicker than I was before.I went to two more doctors during the following month. I was tested for every type of disease known to cause jaundice, including AIDS and various types of hepatitis. All the tests came back negative. I still don't know what illness I had, but like I said that was by far the sickest I've ever been in my life. When it was over I had missed five weeks of work.At the end of all that I had found a doctor I thought was competent, so the next time I got sick I went to him. That happened about a year later when I came down with a horrible rash that covered almost my entire body (only my face, hands and feet were spared). I went back to this doctor and he told me that I had developed some sort of allergy and prescribed some medicine. The rash got worse so I went back. He said the medicine hadn't had time to work, so I waited another week. The rash got worse still so I went to another doctor. This one diagnosed the problem as poison sumac and prescibed an ointment. Within about two days the rash was almost completely gone.I haven't been sick since - except with common colds and such - but the next time I do get sick I have no idea where I should go. I just don't trust doctors anymore.

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try to find a good car mechanic, a good dentist, a good plumber, a good restaurant, you will see just how close that 80% rule is.
Your smart, you should realize this.

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I don't know if I do great research, or have smart friends that give me really good recommendations, but I have never had anywhere close to an 80% "failure rate" for people being bad at what they do.It depends upon the job, though, and also where you are. I would say that 80% of the waitstaff in my town is pretty bad. But you couldn't say that in the theater district in any large city; the restaurants in those places are going to attract the most skilled servers.The thing is, rat, you only gave examples from your own experience (with is very narrow and very biased) and have made no attempt to look at the wider overall picture.My mother has this thing against landscapers, because she thinks that most of them are incompetent, or lazy, or otherwise bad at what they do.The thing is, she is so cheap that the hires these unlicensed "handyman"-type people who have no clue how to do what she's asking, instead of paying more for a real professional landscaper with knowledge, experience, and training, and who is a real businessperson.So sure, in her limited, biased experince, all landscapers are incompetent shysters.

One of three explanations.#1 luck#2 you weed out the bad before you "buy"#3 you are a member of the 80% (which I doubt)Oh wait #4, maybe you haven't even really been noticing.I am a blue collar worker, and I have worked around 100's of other blue collar workers. There is no way that anything less than 80% of them are lacking in their skill.Perfect example. I took a test to become a sheet metal worker. The test was tough. 900 people applied. Only 120 passed the written, and then out of that only 60 passed the practical. I came in 17th.Another example, I have had several things happen to me medically, not one has been diagnosed correctly, ever on the first try.Another example. I always work on my own cars. The first three mechanics I finally gave in too, screwd up my car. Now I have finally found a "good mechanic" and he has put a heater core in my old van, and it doesn't work right, he will be fixing it at least.You must live in a perfect world or something.

It is MY 80% rule, no-one elses.The other thing is, that besides you and Nosey Ned, no-one has ever dis-agreed with me.Also being a member of the 80% might actually mask the truth.Its still subjective anyway, and it doesn't mean anything. Take count in your life, now that I made you aware.*edit*
Oh, and I agree with you, it could have to with your area you live in, and be quality of life specific.This message has been edited by riVeRraT, 01-27-2006 09:01 PM

rat writes schraf:

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The other thing is, that besides you and Nosey Ned, no-one has ever dis-agreed with me.

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Hehehe - nice one, slick!I really haven't found your 80% rule to be correct in anything, but like I said earlier my experience with doctors would put their profession somewhere in range of it. And it's not just me, I know other people who've had similar problems of having illnesses made worse by mis-diagnoses.In my case I suppose one of the problems might be that it's getting harder and harder for a doctor to practice general medicine. Medical advancements come so frequently and are so far-reaching in their scope nowadays that it's probably getting harder and harder for one man or woman to maintain a detailed knowledge of it all. Perhaps when we get sick we should go straight to someone who specializes in whatever part of our anatomy is showing symptoms. Maybe we ought to give up the idea of a family doctor, or general practitioner.