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Is This the Best Metropolitan Diary Entry Ever?

How to gauge Jewish stress

by
Adam Chandler
March 12, 2013
(Wikipedia)
(Wikipedia)

The New York Times Metropolitan Diary is the home to a weekly collection of cloying city anecdotes, awkward poetry, and the occasional gem.

Today was one such gem:

Dear Diary:



This month at my annual checkup, I had the following exchange with my doctor:



Doctor: “What is your level of stress on a scale of 1 to 10?”



Me: “I have nothing in particular stressing me out at the moment, but I am a Russian Jew from New York.”



Doctor: “I’ll give you a 4.”

Fair enough.

Adam Chandler was previously a staff writer at Tablet. His work has appeared in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Atlantic, Slate, Esquire, New York, and elsewhere. He tweets @allmychandler.