Drug Dealers

My endearing term for the pharmaceutical reps who visit our practice. It’s not original but it makes some members of the staff and very few reps chuckle. On the average we receive at least a couple of lunches a week courtesy of the Drug Dealers.

You’d think it was the only meal our staff consumes each week. They are like vultures over prey. The caterer can’t set the food up quick enough from all the swarming. It’s kind of embarrassing. What is amusing is the covert ways in which some of the staff squirrels away the stash. My office is right next to the break/conference room so I am keenly aware of the activities surrounding the luncheons. We have one staff member who volunteers to clean up after the luncheons. At first I thought she was very generous or a clean freak. Turns out she is guaranteeing her evening meal. She does do a great job cleaning up. I figure it’s a just reward.

Drug reps generally don’t like talking to me. I do thank them for the meal they have supplied and for the record I don’t partake of each meal. A girl has to watch her figure and the lunches can be quite rich. Should a Drug Dealer engage me in conversation, I always ask if the consumer would benefit from lower medication costs if we could eliminate the luncheons. I mean I am the first to give up the lunches and the coveted chachkas but I also am the one signing for the caterer’s bill. Feeding 50 plus staff is not cheap.

I would gladly give up the lunches for more reasonable medication costs. I understand that the pharmaceutical reps need this avenue to market the new products, but still. There has to be a better way.