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2003-08-06 - 11:52 p.m. Mrs-Roboto's recent entry is reminiscent of one of our office experiences - Invasion of the Drug Reps! Not only does my boss have a research practice but she also sees private patients. In case you don't know (maybe you don't have a doctor, maybe you live under a rock) in this country we have a species of sales people whose sole purpose for being is to visit doctor's offices hoping to convince the doctor to choose his or her company's drug over all others. (Usually its a woman, she almost always has a gigunda engagement rock but almost never gets married - I don't know why) In order to promote their product, these folks woo us with catered lunches and promotional gifts with their product's name all over them. The usual and customary gifts consist of pens, sticky pads, highlighters, etc. Then there are the "special" promotional items. These are usually cyclical trends. One rep brings in a calculator, suddenly every rep is giving you one. Ditto for staplers. Then there were the coffee mugs followed by the travel coffee mugs (I still love my Prozac mug, it makes me happy just drinking out of it). Next came umbrellas - probably the most useful gift, as long as you don't mind advertising an anti-depressant every time it rains. One of the most recent trends was clocks. Desk clocks first, then wall clocks, and finally, the crowning glory, a 2 foot purple plastic grandfather-style clock with working pendulum emblazoned with a popular anti-psychotic agent. Now nothing says class like a grandfather clock. But I think nothing can top my all time favorite. Once upon a time, when I worked for an ob/gyn, a drug rep came in and proudly proclaimed, "I've got baseball caps for you gals." BTW, I hate being called a "gal" its so frumpy - like a middle aged overweight woman in bicycle shorts but I digress... Back to the caps the rep was waving so madly in my face. Imagine my delight at the prospect of wearing a cap promoting Nameless Vaginal Cream. There's nothing I want to be associated more with than the treatment of yeast infections! Oh the joy, the honor, to have the word Vaginal above my head. Now, no good doctor is swayed by these promotional products anyway (emphasis on the word good) Could you imagine if they were? You'd be on a different drug every week. In this instance however, my boss was swayed...against every letting this rep cross our door again. As he said, anyone stupid enough to ask him to wear something as ridiculous as that cap was too stupid to advise him about the finer points of modern medicine. � 
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