“Jennifer J____ is here”, said my secretary. “She says you are expecting her.”
I had never heard the name, and I had no appointments that afternoon.
“Is she a patient?” I asked.
My secretary spoke into the phone to the front desk receptionist, then turned to me. “No. But she says you asked her to come in to see you.”
“Go out and see who she is,” I suggested.
Turns out Jennifer was a drug rep with a new product to sell for osteopososis. She had no appointment because I stopped seeing drug reps over a year ago.
“Tell her nice try,” I said.
But for arguments’ sake, let’s say I had agreed to see her.
Why would I believe anything she had to say about her drug when she had already lied to get into my office?
You deflected her attempt like Wonder Woman deflects bullets with her bracelets!
Would you be willing to get in touch with her regional manager to “discuss” the approach of Jennifer? I would LOVE to get that kind of feedback from a “customer” to make sure that you and/or other customers don’t get the same sleazy approach that turned you off. It would also give you the chance to get off the visit list.
You will have to make sure your staff is savy to approaches like this now that you are on the top doc list. The reps will get BIG kudos for getting appointments with you back in the office.
There are so many good things about the pharma industry, and it’s situations like this that help to undermine the good stuff.
I remember interviewing to be a drug rep. We discussed ways to get in to talk with those elusive no-access doc’s. Unfortunately, I believe that big pharma advocates a “whatever it takes” approach to getting in with the docs. Even stalking isn’t beyond them.
So glad I didn’t get the job!
What a cheeky lady!! It’s a wonder drug companies even bother with reps these days, they have awful reputations…
They give away nice free pens though.
Now that was bold on the drug rep’s part. It was not, however, particularly respectful of your time. (oh, yeah, and it shows she’s a liar!) I’m glad you sent her away!
Sometimes I think it would’ve been really fun to be a drug rep – the fancy suits, the lunches always paid for. Then I come back to reality.
You should charge her $500 an hour for your time and just nod your head the entire time.
I LOVE HH’s approach! Thankfully, in my department we are pretty well shielded from the reps. Of course, that means I have to buy my own pens…
My former family doctor’s office had a sign that said “Drug reps seen Tues-Fri. only”. One Monday, as I’m in the waiting room, I saw a rep desperately try to weasel past the front desk clerk. “We’ve scheduled a presentation on drug X. I’m just here to give Dr. Y the relevant articles about drug X’s clinical results. It won’t take me long….”
I nearly went up to the rep, to point out the ‘Tues-Fri’ sign, and ask if she had trouble reading. Mercifully, she gave up and left the office. BTW, the clerk was way too polite with the rep.