Is it easier to miscommunicate with people you know well?  Last week, my fabulous dentist Matthew Bellafiore, did a root canal for me.  Things went smoothly and, at the end, he handed me a prescription for antibiotics, saying (in his usual warm and concerned way), “I’m giving this to you in case anything goes wrong.”

Would you have taken the medicine?  Would you have asked him to clarify?  I did neither, and you can guess how the story ends.  (The infection is healing nicely, thanks.)

Ironically, this wouldn’t have happened if I’d been a new patient, because Dr. B would have carefully said, “Be sure you go out and begin taking this antibiotic immediately,” and a new patient would have checked to be sure she understood his instructions.

This episode led me to wonder if it isn’t easier to miscommunicate with people you know well, because everyone thinks they already know what the other person meant.

Is that your experience?