This sort of happened to Ruben several years ago, but when he was on the ground.īesides being a biologist, he’s also a writer and comedian. “A surprising number of people all had the same concern about using the term doctor: if they were going to be on an airplane when somebody needs a doctor,” Ruben said. Others said it seems a little pretentious. He polled his friends and acquaintances with Ph.D.s on Facebook and Twitter about whether or not they call themselves doctor. Ruben has been thinking about the doctor honorific for a while. “It’s not outright wrong and the world should forgive me,” he said.
It kind of worked: He got his refund - after three months. “And I know that’s kind of an icky thing to do but I have heard that you get better service when you use the term doctor.” “We had to spend a night in some city and I was trying to get a refund for our hotel bill, so I signed the email Dr. Ruben - when he emailed an airline to complain about a messed up flight. There was one time when he made a conscious choice to refer to himself as Dr. Molecular biologist Adam Ruben has a Ph.D. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher or wherever you get your podcasts. This story is from The Pulse, a weekly health and science podcast.
