Representative Expectations???

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Anonymous said:
Wise advice from someone who's been there.

Look, Merck needs to get rid of even more reps. We all know that. Why not just be honest and say so? Instead, they play mind games with everyone on the hit list. The goal is to get you to quit so they won't have to pay any severance, which they don't have to pay anyhow. Why not just take the honest route? This company is evil to the core.
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truer words were never spoken...great post and so true...

Merck chooses the evil route every time...awful company. Glad I walked...(without severance or anything--had to protect my sanity!)
 






Anonymous said:
I have heard this story over and over again from other reps around the country. It's a shame Merck has come to this. Since when is selling pills so hard? Getting coached on how to talk to ungrateful pigs who don't give a rat's ass about our product during lunch? Getting told by management how they would have done it or could have done it yet never lead by example during a sales discussion to prove this.

This job is a joke and a sham. I'm embarrassed to admit what I do for a living.
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that is why i got out...after 19 years...just walked...

as another poster said, "protect your sanity" at any cost...Merck does not care about you...

A healthcare company that causes so much mental sickness...awful...
 






Anonymous said:
that is why i got out...after 19 years...just walked...

as another poster said, "protect your sanity" at any cost...Merck does not care about you...

A healthcare company that causes so much mental sickness...awful...
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A health care company that is literally turning each of the rep to antidepressant, anti-anxiety, and ulcer medications. It is horrible.
 












Anonymous said:
Honestly, I should slap myself silly in enduring the PIP and being belittled by my previous manager. They have a way to demean you into thinking if you cannot make it at Merck, you will fail elsewhere and as a human being. By the grace of God and near going postal, I made the choice. I felt like an abject failure for almost a year. But I am so happy now with a lump sum after three decades with Merck. Why was I so blind to take that PIP shit for that long?
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Maybe I can guess why. You worked for Merck for 30 years. You went to work for Merck when they were a great company. The best of the best, most admired, and all those high accolades that seemed to naturally come Merck's way was part of your experience. In the end, you probably couldn't stand working for Merck, yet you didn't think you were ready to leave just yet, and you couldn't imagine how a company like Merck once was, could treat you so badly. That was my story. I still find it hard to believe that a supposed healthcare company that is all about improving lives would treat their employees with such dishonesty and total disregard for their health and wellbeing. I call it shameful and can't imagine still working for them.
 






Anonymous said:
Maybe I can guess why. You worked for Merck for 30 years. You went to work for Merck when they were a great company. The best of the best, most admired, and all those high accolades that seemed to naturally come Merck's way was part of your experience. In the end, you probably couldn't stand working for Merck, yet you didn't think you were ready to leave just yet, and you couldn't imagine how a company like Merck once was, could treat you so badly. That was my story. I still find it hard to believe that a supposed healthcare company that is all about improving lives would treat their employees with such dishonesty and total disregard for their health and well being. I call it shameful and can't imagine still working for them.
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Spot on. The newer reps see moving from one company to another for an extra $3K as normal. I saw Merck as a family. I have witnessed how a top notch normal family slowly degenrrated into a highly dysfunctional one. I was even deluded to think it would reverse course. How stupid and naive could I be? The captain and crew are now of a different breed and I worked with some of them before. I probably missed the signal loud and clear when my previous prick manager said something about professional sales is old style and I must learn how to swagger. Building relationship is old fashion. Swagger and dance at each detail under the customer and staff are all excited and drooling is what is expected in a successful sales presentation.
 






Anonymous said:
Bravo! You've won.
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Totally agree - I saw the writing on the wall when managers started to get shuffled - all of a sudden my "performance" was in doubt - where just a couple of months before I was being congratulated on a job well done. Settled out of court - manager was gone before I was - happier now - struggling to get by on meager pension - don't regret my decision at all. I, too, am here having a nice cup of coffee, planning out my day, with not an ounce of regret. To all of us who said "enough is enough" - bravo.
 






I may not feel physically old in my mid-50's but I certainly do feel a certain disconnect with our younger employees. They seem to operate with a totally different mindset from mine which does make me feel somewhat older and out of touch with them. I sense I am expected to conform to their behavior. When I was a younger rep, I recall that we who were younger wanted to model the "older" guys in their 40's and 50's who were very successful and were a lot of fun to be around. They in fact knew how to make the job fun. I had no trouble identifying with them. The "freshman-sophomore" reps of today tend to view us senior reps as dinosaurs. Perhaps we are...
 






Anonymous said:
I may not feel physically old in my mid-50's but I certainly do feel a certain disconnect with our younger employees. They seem to operate with a totally different mindset from mine which does make me feel somewhat older and out of touch with them. I sense I am expected to conform to their behavior. When I was a younger rep, I recall that we who were younger wanted to model the "older" guys in their 40's and 50's who were very successful and were a lot of fun to be around. They in fact knew how to make the job fun. I had no trouble identifying with them. The "freshman-sophomore" reps of today tend to view us senior reps as dinosaurs. Perhaps we are...
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I'm feelin you bro'. However, I get comfort in knowing that these younger employees are totally wasting their time and brains on this company when the job has no value.

At least when we were younger we talked science, had true relationships and value to the offices. Now, it's if the office misses one train (drug rep)--they can always catch the next one.

My college graduate daughter wanted to join Merck and I told her over 8 years ago, NO! She saw it as easy money, but I told her it would suck her brains out. Her 4 years of college education would be reduced to a high school education.

It's just not worth the money for younger employees, but I'll be damn if I'm leaving now since I've invested so many years.
 






Anonymous said:
I may not feel physically old in my mid-50's but I certainly do feel a certain disconnect with our younger employees. They seem to operate with a totally different mindset from mine which does make me feel somewhat older and out of touch with them. I sense I am expected to conform to their behavior. When I was a younger rep, I recall that we who were younger wanted to model the "older" guys in their 40's and 50's who were very successful and were a lot of fun to be around. They in fact knew how to make the job fun. I had no trouble identifying with them. The "freshman-sophomore" reps of today tend to view us senior reps as dinosaurs. Perhaps we are...
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Amen to that. I used to seek out professional and personal advice from the senior and exec tenured reps. Many taught me how to invest and save. Tricks to gain access. I was happy to see some took a month of vacation off to unwind. We used to be happy a fellow rep earned that privilege to go on a cross country trip for that long. We ourselves looked forward to that. We wanted to emulate them. We were sad to see them retired and would miss out on all the advice. Now Barbie and Ken reps operate at a different frequency. Now Merck is not happy that you go on a 4-week vacation. They have more happy hours during the week. They want us to fit into their circle and style. Merck told them they are the future. They are like kids. They don't want to listen to us but then point finger this way when it is not going well. They call us grandpas, grandmas, dinosaurs, etc. When they got into troubles on territory the docs call me to come and fix it. Then the Barbie and Ken reps got upset. It is weird. A tenured rep is a bad person being called by a customer to fix a serious problem due to missteps by mouthy young reps.
 






Anonymous said:
Amen to that. I used to seek out professional and personal advice from the senior and exec tenured reps. Many taught me how to invest and save. Tricks to gain access. I was happy to see some took a month of vacation off to unwind. We used to be happy a fellow rep earned that privilege to go on a cross country trip for that long. We ourselves looked forward to that. We wanted to emulate them. We were sad to see them retired and would miss out on all the advice. Now Barbie and Ken reps operate at a different frequency. Now Merck is not happy that you go on a 4-week vacation. They have more happy hours during the week. They want us to fit into their circle and style. Merck told them they are the future. They are like kids. They don't want to listen to us but then point finger this way when it is not going well. They call us grandpas, grandmas, dinosaurs, etc. When they got into troubles on territory the docs call me to come and fix it. Then the Barbie and Ken reps got upset. It is weird. A tenured rep is a bad person being called by a customer to fix a serious problem due to missteps by mouthy young reps.
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All so true....be glad the end is near....and once gone, never look back!
 






Rep with long resume, awards, grad school educated, great track record of life. Suddenly inadequate. Huh????

Distorted management expectations or really a low performer waiting for a PIP?

Twilight zone comes to mind...
 






Anonymous said:
Rep with long resume, awards, grad school educated, great track record of life. Suddenly inadequate. Huh????

Distorted management expectations or really a low performer waiting for a PIP?

Twilight zone comes to mind...
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That was my story, too. I'm gone from Merck now. I had to get out to protect my sanity, as someone else put it. There are a lot of us...and the number is growing.
 






Anonymous said:
Rep with long resume, awards, grad school educated, great track record of life. Suddenly inadequate. Huh????

Distorted management expectations or really a low performer waiting for a PIP?

Twilight zone comes to mind...
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Because this has become such a silly job.....there once was a time when a rep could make some impact, build relationships and "matter"....not anymore....as such, the old-timers are way too expensive in a useless environment, and must be eliminated....any way possible.
 












So reps will be cast off....the job that once was.

Replaced with low salary, non Merck employee contracted reps?

All those years and years of experienced and advanced degrees reps too?

Sent packing?
 












They want you to leave so they can replace you with contract reps. Wake up! Ride the train into the ground but in the meantime, get prepared NOW to do something else (get a grad degree, start your own business, get your finances in order, etc)
 












Anonymous said:
They want you to leave so they can replace you with contract reps. Wake up! Ride the train into the ground but in the meantime, get prepared NOW to do something else (get a grad degree, start your own business, get your finances in order, etc)
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I would think long and hard about a grad degree. It can be a 60-100K more debt in an over saturated masters degree market. It may not be needed.

Practical skills folks!!!
 






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