You know that you are getting older....
 

when I ask the 20 something year old dental assistant (female) how she is and I get a curt response "fine". It is not like I am asking her for a date but merely trying to be friendly. Perhaps I am old fashioned and expect an appropriately friendly response and a smile. Me thinking perhaps I could take the dentist aside and my darker side would suggest to him that I did his hiring next time....

Is this society more unfriendly than it used to be or are my expectations too high?

Women don't like to be asked about their age. She probably took it as you hitting on her.

She may have been just having a bad day. I'd let it go.

pretty silly to make a judgement about all of society, from one girls response, the one time you talked to her.

Next time call her "doll" and pinch her butt.

Clearly PMS. The obvious solution is to fire your female dental hygenist and replace her with a gay man.

Thankfully my hygienist is a touch older than I am, and is sweet as can be. Her boss (my dentist) is a great guy as well. Even their receptionist/scheduler is a great gal.

Been their faithful customer for 15 years!

Find somebody new. Having your teeth scraped clean is bad enough--no need to compound it with being in the company of a nasty attitude (unless you get some unintended boob contact during your cleaning--that's worth the grief).

I have a new one also recently. She had an attitude the first time. Conversations since indicate that she basically does not like people. This in a 25-30 year old nice looking lady. Maybe she's had a lot of disappointments, maybe she was spoiled rotten, maybe some other issue. She does the job adequately, and I like the dentist, so I deal with it. My last hygienist used to hold my head between her.....OK we won't go there :)

Maybe she is just not into older blokes. :D

Maybe your breath was bad and she didn't want a long conversation before you got cleaned:D

She's having a bad day/week/year/whatever.
Or maybe she didn't like the way you said it.

Women sometimes have their anti-male guard set to Red Alert 4.
Women seem to have thinner skins these days.

She's 'the boss' when you are in the chair.
You are an unpleasant bloody object to be serviced and cared for.
Like any piece of machine.

In the big picture, your best bet in receiving premium health care is to try and make her day easier.
Not worse.
Recognize that.

You know that you are getting older....
 

It doesn't sound like he asked her anything about her age. And yes, I agree, don't make an assumption regarding younger women because of one interaction. I was a young nurse when I started (22) and I looked even younger. I was always nice to both my older female and male patients. They always had a lot to tell me. I liked talking to them. And honestly, it goes both ways. There are as MAJOR grumpy old men and ladies out there. But we only see a tiny part of them. Maybe if I knew what was going on with the rest of their lives I would understand why they are grumpy. Heck, being in the hospital, being poked, whatever, is reason enough to be grouchy. Give the girl the benefit of the doubt. If she continues to be grouchy, figure out why and if she's just a mean person, pity her instead of being mad at her. I would hate to live every day like that...

Let's see.

You're at the dentist's office. Could it be that that talking while she is working on your teeth is the problem?

She's probably only used to being texted...

No one asked yet so.......
This thread is useless without pictures.....

expectations today are only tomorrow's disappointment still on the hoof.

the biggest clue that you're getting old is when urination takes longer than sex

Another sign you are getting older is when the doctor or his staff look so young you want to ask how they dressed up to go trick or treating or what Santa Clause is going to bring them.

It seems that my hygienist always wants to start a conversation the minute my mouth is forced open and filled with the tools of the trade.....

I guess it does seem that more people you come into contact with day-to-day seem to have some kind of chip on their shoulder. I brush it off--there are plenty more people who are friendly who more than make up for those who are not.

Must be something in the water.

Ask her if you can snap a couple pics of her, (face+body), and post them on a car BBS with thousands of random members and lurkers to critique her appearance. That'll warm her up...young women love attention.

Better yet, just snap them without asking her. Candid shots are the best. See if you can get her to pose on a ladder- we particularly like those shots.