u/Potential-World-8641

I'm a new grad dentist, and I'll be starting my first associate position next week. I'm excited... but definitely a little nervous too.

For those of you who've been in practice for a while, what's something you wish you knew when you first started? It could be clinical tips, communication with patients, managing staff relationships, dealing with imposter syndrome, handling mistakes, improving efficiency. Literally anything you think would have made those first few months easier.

If you could go back and give your new-grad self one piece of advice, what would it be?

I'd love to learn from your experiences. Thanks in advance!

Since moving into our new home, everyone has been pretty friendly (even the guy that hit my new car). People wave when they drive by, stop to chat when we're outside doing yard work, and generally seem welcoming.

That being said, my husband keeps saying that since we moved here it feels like people are constantly watching what everyone is doing. I've started feeling that way too.

The other day, a woman hurried up to our front door and knocked. Based on how urgently she approached, we thought something might be wrong. Instead, she told us our lawn was "about to die" and gave it about a week unless we made major landscaping changes.

We stood there while she listed a bunch of recommendations, smiling awkwardly because... what else do you do? When she finished, she said, "I better not see you guys watering this lawn again. Oh, and welcome to the neighborhood."

She never introduced herself. She's not with the HOA, not a landscaper (as far as we know), and we have no idea where she even lives. Just a random woman deeply concerned about our grass.

For context, when we bought the house, the lawn was in rough shape, lots of weeds, yellow patches, and bald spots. We've only been here a short time and have been trying to improve it by mowing, edging, leveling some areas, and generally cleaning it up.

So now I'm curious:
Is this normal in some neighborhoods?
Is this just a particularly nosy neighbor, or should we expect random lawn consultations from strangers going forward?

We've lived in the suburbs our entire lives and have never had an interaction quite like this.