Ex-Merck posts

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There are probably few delusional Merck-loyalists still following this thread, but if I could turn the tables on the OP... Why do you stay? Is a few more bucks worth the stress, the backstabbing and the loss of self-pride?

Besides the litany of reasons given that choke the life out of you, there's also the things reps do that tightens the noose on themselves. You can't put an honest full day in, let alone more than a full day. Maybe if you have a dinner, but most reps shave off part of the day to compensate. What I mean is this: when you find yourself driving around, or sitting in a parking lot in your territory to kill time before going home so you don't get dinged. When you fake calls because you need to show activity, and no one will let you in. When you get a siggy from a doc, never lay eyes on him, and fabricate a conversation. When you do these things, you devalue yourself and your worth. That's a sucky way to carry on a career. This is what all reps do, because if you literally busted your butt from morning till night, you'd make all your calls by Tuesday.

Don't you who stay want something more for yourselves? How long can you ignore that voice that's telling you that this is NOT a job for mature professionals?
 




Anonymous said:
There are probably few delusional Merck-loyalists still following this thread, but if I could turn the tables on the OP... Why do you stay? Is a few more bucks worth the stress, the backstabbing and the loss of self-pride?

Besides the litany of reasons given that choke the life out of you, there's also the things reps do that tightens the noose on themselves. You can't put an honest full day in, let alone more than a full day. Maybe if you have a dinner, but most reps shave off part of the day to compensate. What I mean is this: when you find yourself driving around, or sitting in a parking lot in your territory to kill time before going home so you don't get dinged. When you fake calls because you need to show activity, and no one will let you in. When you get a siggy from a doc, never lay eyes on him, and fabricate a conversation. When you do these things, you devalue yourself and your worth. That's a sucky way to carry on a career. This is what all reps do, because if you literally busted your butt from morning till night, you'd make all your calls by Tuesday.

Don't you who stay want something more for yourselves? How long can you ignore that voice that's telling you that this is NOT a job for mature professionals?
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So very true. This job has been a farce for years. Take your money until they stop giving it to you---if you can stomach this hell hole---then go home and try to forget it ever happened.
 




It looks like this "survey" votes about 10:1 against staying at "The New Merck". And mostly because, as bad as it may seem today, it is unlikely to get better? I for one, do not get the sense that anyone has the faith or energy or trust needed to collaborate in order to fix the issues. We are hoping for the "leadership" to do it. Sort of like hoping for a snow day when you didn't get that big homework assignment done?
 




Anonymous said:
So very true. This job has been a farce for years. Take your money until they stop giving it to you---if you can stomach this hell hole---then go home and try to forget it ever happened.
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Disagree if you are talking about the first half of my Merck career. Happy. Content. Productive. Family. Team spirit.

Totally agreed about the second half of my Merck career. When there were so many people over-analyzing silly data. Instead of making sales calls whenever to get more business, I wasted more of my time connecting dots, making sure this and that was done correctly, all to satisfy various departments back at the HQ and nothing to contribute to the bottom line.
 




For all of you who can be honest about the farcical nature of the job, there is still hope for you. It means you haven't lost touch with reality...yet. But make no mistake, pharma sales will provide you with far more risks than benefits.
 




Anonymous said:
For all of you who can be honest about the farcical nature of the job, there is still hope for you. It means you haven't lost touch with reality...yet. But make no mistake, pharma sales will provide you with far more risks than benefits.
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That is why I retired from Merck when they turned the job into a meaningless one. When that, "for the people" feeling was gone.
 




Anonymous said:
this person defnitely gets it...great post...Many don't realize how toxic and bizarre (thin religious cult) Merck is until they get out from under it...
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As an ex-Merck, I applaud the above poster - I too come on this board occasionally to see if anything has changed for the better with this s**t-h**e of a company. Alas, nothing has changed. When I first came to work for Merck it was an "honor" to work for such a respected company. Then all the back-stabbing, ass-kissing, throw you under the bus mentality kicked in. So glad to be gone - there is a life outside this hell-hole of a company - and a much better life it is.
 








So the big question is what to do next? I am in my mid 30's and have B2B sales of 6 years and pharma of 6 years. Where do I go next and what is there that will still pay the bills, I bring home the bacon in my family, so what to do????? good advice only please. medical sales is not working. they hate pharma, even with a B2b Sales background.
 








Anonymous said:
So the big question is what to do next? I am in my mid 30's and have B2B sales of 6 years and pharma of 6 years. Where do I go next and what is there that will still pay the bills, I bring home the bacon in my family, so what to do????? good advice only please. medical sales is not working. they hate pharma, even with a B2b Sales background.
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Positive thing is you are young.
Look at other sales....every product has sales people.
What do you like?
Passion for?
Sports?
Cars?
Every industry has sales people.
Good Luck!!!!
 




Ex-Merck here as well. I was with Merck for a short while, less than 5 years. Joined Merck after working at 3 other Fortune 50 "big pharma". I must say - I have never seen the level of back-stabbing, conspiracies and dirty politics anywhere else that I saw during my short 5 years at Merck. The management philosophy is simple - who you know, who you suck up to and how effective you are in kissing higher management's rear end. I quickly learned how the conspiracies are planned and played out. Came to know about situations where a regional director personally reached out and forced reps to call in to ambudsman with made up allegagtions about a manager making it easier for him push the manager out - only because the manager was not willing to suck-up and kiss this director's ass. These kind of true stories made me feel threatend - I glad am NOT part of this lousy organization any more. Every company has positive and negative traits - however, when I try to list positive traits of Merck, I end up with a blank paper! I may not make as much as I did at Merck - but I have my self-respect, dignity and peace of mind!
 








Anonymous said:
All you still in Merck's stranglehold!

More roll-playing!!
What's your call plan?!!
What are the obstacles, and what's your plan to counter them?!!
More roll-playing!!
Who else can you sell to in the office?!! I want a total office call!!
How did your last call go?!! How did you leave the doc?!!

Jump through this hoop!! Jump through that hoop!! Now, roll over!! Sit!! Stay!!
Remember, this is why you went to college!!
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Drilling you to death is their way of trying to assess if you are actually doing your job, and not slacking off. "Back in the day", when blockbusters had many years before their patent expiration, it was a party, and not about accountability. Now we can only reminisce about how this job used to be great (i.e., those of us that were around back then).
 




Anonymous said:
Drilling you to death is their way of trying to assess if you are actually doing your job, and not slacking off. "Back in the day", when blockbusters had many years before their patent expiration, it was a party, and not about accountability. Now we can only reminisce about how this job used to be great (i.e., those of us that were around back then).
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I would tend to mostly agree with you. However what hurts us the most is our management's lack of integrity. It is appalling and nothing like we had "back in the day" with guys like Dr. Jim Hoffman, Jerry Keller, John Vance, and Jack Rieg running around. I'd even take Bucky back in a second over the clueless bunch we now have.
 




Anonymous said:
I would tend to mostly agree with you. However what hurts us the most is our management's lack of integrity. It is appalling and nothing like we had "back in the day" with guys like Dr. Jim Hoffman, Jerry Keller, John Vance, and Jack Rieg running around. I'd even take Bucky back in a second over the clueless bunch we now have.
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You mentioning all those names remind me how low we have sunk in terms of management.
 












Anonymous said:
BS..... DONT KNOW ONE REP WHO TAKES OFF DAYS OR CAN DO A 10-2 GIG......
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Now, now...we're amongst friends here on cafepharma. No need to play games and act like a martyr for Merck when you're posting to other reps. We know the truth afterall. You can be honest with yourself and others here. Don't counter BS with more BS. You can't shit and shitter you know. You sure as hell aren't seeing doctors all day long every day.
 




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