Off the Cuff: In With the New

A new hobby I’ve picked up that I’ve always wanted to do and finally am is track day auto racing. I joined an organization called the National Auto Sport Association (NASA oddly) and am going through their high performance drivers education curriculum. They’ve been a very welcoming group. It's all very structured, and I’m learning a lot. I’m currently level 2. Before my first race day, I was trying to decide what vehicle I wanted to race. I had inherited Arthur’s Porsche Targa 4, but I never liked driving that car, so I sold it to the local Porsche dealership. Initial research revealed the most common novice track day cars were Mazda Miatas, VW Golfs, and Honda Civics… but who wants to be common? Upon further research I looked at common track day cars in Europe, and I found my muse in the Mini Cooper.

I first went to the Mini dealership in Scottsdale, but they didn’t have anything as they were currently converting their inventory to all electric. The associate there though was very helpful and told me about the John Cooper Works (JCW) GP3 that was last built in 2021 and was designed specifically for racing with more horsepower with twin turbo, lighter body, removed rear seats, and oversized brakes. The trick was, there were only 3000 made in the entire world, so I definitely wasn't finding one locally. I finally tracked one down in Seattle, WA, and flew up to the dealership to test drive it. It was perfect and exactly what I wanted. Sold. Easy, so you’d think, but that’s when the old and new collided. Since I had the money from selling the Porsche, I just wanted to pay cash. The dealership still required me to fill out a credit application. Why? “So they know who they’re taking cash from.” A bit annoying but okay. They sent me a link to my phone. I filled it all out, but since I was one of the unfortunate identity theft victims after the NBEO breach, all my credit profiles are intentionally frozen. I do a temporary “unfreeze” for them, and they confirm who I am and that I’m creditworthy enough to give them cash. They then had me fill out physical paper forms after they already had the digital ones. Why the duplication? The finance department prefers paper. They then had me meet with the manager to do a separate online identity questionnaire with him in person. You know the ones “have you ever been associated with any of these addresses? Have you ever owned any of these cars?” After passing the second identity check, they then send me to a financing manager, but I’m not financing. I’m told he does the title paperwork, but of course he goes for the hard sell pitch for a LoJack and service plan. Absolutely not and I don’t even live in this state, how would I utilize your service plan? Anyway, after all that they then ask me for a copy of a utility bill. What?! I was at my wits’ end. I had proven my identity six ways from Sunday, but the clash of their new systems that I’m sure made them feel modern and up to date clashed with their old systems and was absolutely infuriating. I was a breath away from flying home without the car. Needless to say they did not get a utility bill from me, but I did give them a check, set up the auto transport, and the car was delivered before my first race day.

This situation really made me take a hard look at the processes in my practice. Are there clashes between the old and new? Were we infuriating patients? We have a new patient communication software that older employees and patients refuse to utilize even though it’s quicker and easier. Because of this refusal, more tech savvy patients who utilize the software have been asked to duplicate signatures they have already provided electronically. This experience really made me stop and consider how our processes are perceived. Patient perception and satisfaction is everything, so this was a good reminder to step back and look at my practice from the patient side and adjust accordingly.

Shannon L. Steinh?user, OD, MS, FAAO - Chief Medical Editor

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