Trust and Value

[Anonymous]

Haha! So true.
I got a poorer than usual ride along review once (as a highly tenured/successful rep) when I dropped my pen while talking to a doc. I AM NOT JOKING HERE. The DM made mention of it afterwards as if I had done something awful (like accidentally spitting on the Dr's face or something along those lines). I thought-- are you f'ng kidding me? Thought I was an adult who dropped a pen, and not a 5-yr-old who spilled his milk.
Seriously, what is WRONG with these people???
Other industries DO NOT behave this way.

It is a sad and it seems to be a true statement that managers are permitted to have this amount of power. Nonsense BS, personal likes or dislikes for a rep, crazy whims can all play out and have the ability to destroy a successful career. PIP a few managers and boot them out for this kind treatement of reps. This is not a minor flaw in the system.

 

[Anonymous]

It comes back to a feeble attempt of taking the job too seriously, as in the DM's job. Reps if given the chance, can perform at some level of benefit to Merck. The job of the rep's manager is much harder to justify, so we get these absurdities of something like a pen being dropped in an isolated incident being cited by the manager in an attempt to justify their job. Totally absurd and asinine but that's the state of pharmaceutical sales at old large pharma companies. It is one big joke and this is one more example of it.

Reminds of a manager who critique a rep for not standing and bending at a certain angle to hold a reprint at this angle while discussing with a physician. Yes, the rep was one of my colleagues. Do you guys sense a lot of what DMs do are posturing?

 

[Anonymous]

Reminds of a manager who critique a rep for not standing and bending at a certain angle to hold a reprint at this angle while discussing with a physician. Yes, the rep was one of my colleagues. Do you guys sense a lot of what DMs do are posturing?

Posturing? LOL....Yep...look at me I need to look like I know what I'm doing...and you need to look like you know a lot less.

 

[Anonymous]

Good to see some of you are managing to keep a sense of humor despite working in such a insane and often hostile environment. My anger got the best of me and that became my ticket out.

 

[Anonymous]

Good to see some of you are managing to keep a sense of humor despite working in such a insane and often hostile environment. My anger got the best of me and that became my ticket out.

"My anger got the best of me and that became my ticket out."

You left. Why and where did you go?

 

[Anonymous]

Good to see some of you are managing to keep a sense of humor despite working in such a insane and often hostile environment. My anger got the best of me and that became my ticket out.

Same here.

 

[Anonymous]

Good to see some of you are managing to keep a sense of humor despite working in such a insane and often hostile environment. My anger got the best of me and that became my ticket out.

After several months of insane pressures from an insane manager, I left voluntarily. It wasn't out of anger; I just didn't want to work here anymore. They screwed me out of 11 months of bonus money. That delivered a little anger, but not much. I'm just glad to be gone. I haven't felt this great in years.

 

[Anonymous]

After several months of insane pressures from an insane manager, I left voluntarily. It wasn't out of anger; I just didn't want to work here anymore. They screwed me out of 11 months of bonus money. That delivered a little anger, but not much. I'm just glad to be gone. I haven't felt this great in years.

Must have had another offer to walk.

 

[Anonymous]

Must have had another offer to walk.

I went the independent rep route. There are lots of great products out there that pay straight commission with none of the corporate bulls--t. Risky, scary...wonderful. Nobody tells me what to do. Nobody sits in judgment. I can earn what I earn, not what some dim-witted manager tells me I earn.

To Merck I offer nothing but a one-finger salute. I'm not missing any of it---the company was an embarrassment to be part of and the reps weren't much better. A bunch of scared, ass-kissing backstabbers, hoping to get the next guy fired to save their own a--.

I'll find my success on my own terms. I wish I had done this years ago.

If only my MRK stock options could be worth something; it's the only interest I have left in your pathetic company.

 

[Anonymous]

Good to see some of you are managing to keep a sense of humor despite working in such a insane and often hostile environment. My anger got the best of me and that became my ticket out.

Pen dropper here. I didn't stay around much longer after that incident. There were realignments shortly after; got a new manager in the shuffle and that one liked to critique insignificant "behaviors" also. Big surprise there. lol. This one actually told me, when I said something about it (I'm not one to hold my tongue for long), that because so many of the reps (under her) were highly tenured and knew what they were doing, that it was her job to point out all the little, minor things that needed to be "tweaked". Seriously?
Hmmm....how about actually telling someone they're doing a great job?
How about realizing that reps are people, not robots, and they're not going to always be perfectly postured, that maybe their magnetic name tag has turned a little sideways and they didn't even realize it (I DID have a DM CRITIQUE me for my name tag once also!!), or that, God forbid, they might drop something. Actually, when I think back, the pen wasn't even in my hand when it fell. It was attached to something I handed to the doc and just slipped out onto the floor. OMG!!! I had to pick it up. I'm sure the doc was thinking at that moment that he was never going to write for my product again, and that I was a terrible, incompetent buffoon.
Sorry for getting sidetracked. Long story, I left the job and left the industry. There were too many insanities and it did, finally, get the best of me also. I, too, am happy to be gone.
The last day of work there was one of my happiest. You could not pay me enough to ever go back.

 

[Anonymous]

Almost all of the people that have exhibited trust and have tried wherever possible to provide long-term value to the company have been urged out over the last several years. The weasels that pose as management view them and their kind as not to be trusted to exhibit the current team value of untrustworthiness. Imagine a company in which those that really sacrifice to do the right thing are considered threats!

Merck loves to back up it's corrupt managers at ALL costs. Check out the article from BNET below.


Merck Pulls Out Big Guns to Appeal Case Based on Video of CEO
By Jim Edwards | June 7, 2011 inShare.5

Merck (MRK), in an apparent act of madness, is appealing a $550,000 jury verdict it lost for firing a pharmaceutical sales rep who was forced to charge other employees’ expenses on her corporate credit card, even though the case was based in part on a video made by former CEO Dick Clark.

Merck has only filed a notice of appeal (not its full legal briefs) to the January 2011 Maryland federal court verdict, so it is not clear what Merck believes is wrong with the jury’s decision. But the fact that the company is appealing at all suggests a scorched earth approach to the case. It’s not clear why the company is bothering, because it must already have spent more on its own lawyers’ fees than the verdict itself at this point.

Plaintiff Jennifer Scott claims her supervisor required her to charge lunch expenses to her credit card for another employee, and that she refused to follow an order to take doctors out to dinner in violation of a Merck policy forbidding non-clinical interactions with physicians.

She complained about the supervisor, district manager William Liberato, and an internal Merck investigation found he acted improperly. He was moved to a different division in the company. Despite that, he still conducted Scott’s annual performance review and fired her. Scott said she relied in part on the words of CEO Clark, who had made an internal video promising his employees they would be protected from retaliation if they reported unethical conduct.

Merck claimed Scott would have lost her job anyway in its merger with Schering-Plough.

The trial had a weird twist when one of the jurors contacted Liberato after the verdict to say she had been rushed and pressured into making a verdict for Scott. Liberato reported the call to Merck’s counsel, who then reported it to the judge. The judge ruled that as the pressure was internal to the jury, no misconduct occurred. Merck also lost a motion to set aside the verdict after the trial.

The case itself is mosquito-sized in the world of Merck, which made $46 billion in sales last year. Yet Merck seems intent on using its elephant guns. Perhaps Merck’s new CEO, Ken Frazier, who was the company’s general counsel until 2007, can offer his lawyers some advice about focusing their efforts on more significant projects

 

[Anonymous]

Merck loves to back up it's corrupt managers at ALL costs. Check out the article from BNET below.


Merck Pulls Out Big Guns to Appeal Case Based on Video of CEO
By Jim Edwards | June 7, 2011 inShare.5

Merck (MRK), in an apparent act of madness, is appealing a $550,000 jury verdict it lost for firing a pharmaceutical sales rep who was forced to charge other employees’ expenses on her corporate credit card, even though the case was based in part on a video made by former CEO Dick Clark.

Merck has only filed a notice of appeal (not its full legal briefs) to the January 2011 Maryland federal court verdict, so it is not clear what Merck believes is wrong with the jury’s decision. But the fact that the company is appealing at all suggests a scorched earth approach to the case. It’s not clear why the company is bothering, because it must already have spent more on its own lawyers’ fees than the verdict itself at this point.

Plaintiff Jennifer Scott claims her supervisor required her to charge lunch expenses to her credit card for another employee, and that she refused to follow an order to take doctors out to dinner in violation of a Merck policy forbidding non-clinical interactions with physicians.

She complained about the supervisor, district manager William Liberato, and an internal Merck investigation found he acted improperly. He was moved to a different division in the company. Despite that, he still conducted Scott’s annual performance review and fired her. Scott said she relied in part on the words of CEO Clark, who had made an internal video promising his employees they would be protected from retaliation if they reported unethical conduct.

Merck claimed Scott would have lost her job anyway in its merger with Schering-Plough.

The trial had a weird twist when one of the jurors contacted Liberato after the verdict to say she had been rushed and pressured into making a verdict for Scott. Liberato reported the call to Merck’s counsel, who then reported it to the judge. The judge ruled that as the pressure was internal to the jury, no misconduct occurred. Merck also lost a motion to set aside the verdict after the trial.

The case itself is mosquito-sized in the world of Merck, which made $46 billion in sales last year. Yet Merck seems intent on using its elephant guns. Perhaps Merck’s new CEO, Ken Frazier, who was the company’s general counsel until 2007, can offer his lawyers some advice about focusing their efforts on more significant projects

This sounds like classic Merck that they'd rather spend hundreds of thousands in legal expenses to contest a relatively insignificant amount of money awarded to a plaintiff. Whoever decides to pursue a scorched earth strategy against these small awards is costing Merck much more in the long run than the sum of these small awards. But that seems to be Merck of the 21st century.

 

[Anonymous]

This sounds like classic Merck that they'd rather spend hundreds of thousands in legal expenses to contest a relatively insignificant amount of money awarded to a plaintiff. Whoever decides to pursue a scorched earth strategy against these small awards is costing Merck much more in the long run than the sum of these small awards. But that seems to be Merck of the 21st century.

I have just retired. We have to accept the fact that Merck has more lawyers and money than us. We can file a lawsuit and it will drag on until the Second Coming or you are bankrupted. So we are bitter. We are resentful of some of the injustice. I was a super star with tons of awards. Then they said you are a very poor rep. Sometimes I tell myself there is a better life out there. Move on. Move away from Merck. Explore the world out there. Breathe in the fresh air. Touch the flowers. Your entrapped retentive crazy managers will wake up and start next Tuesday to terrorize the reps again. My ego was bruised with three decades of Merck experience. I am not filthy rich. But I pity my former manager who has so many toys that he has to work his crappy job for awhile. He admitted to me that the pressure is getting to him but he is trapped financially. Not sure if I should feel bad for him or not.

 

[Anonymous]

Merck loves to back up it's corrupt managers at ALL costs. Check out the article from BNET below.


Merck Pulls Out Big Guns to Appeal Case Based on Video of CEO
By Jim Edwards | June 7, 2011 inShare.5

Merck (MRK), in an apparent act of madness, is appealing a $550,000 jury verdict it lost for firing a pharmaceutical sales rep who was forced to charge other employees’ expenses on her corporate credit card, even though the case was based in part on a video made by former CEO Dick Clark.

Merck has only filed a notice of appeal (not its full legal briefs) to the January 2011 Maryland federal court verdict, so it is not clear what Merck believes is wrong with the jury’s decision. But the fact that the company is appealing at all suggests a scorched earth approach to the case. It’s not clear why the company is bothering, because it must already have spent more on its own lawyers’ fees than the verdict itself at this point.

Plaintiff Jennifer Scott claims her supervisor required her to charge lunch expenses to her credit card for another employee, and that she refused to follow an order to take doctors out to dinner in violation of a Merck policy forbidding non-clinical interactions with physicians.

She complained about the supervisor, district manager William Liberato, and an internal Merck investigation found he acted improperly. He was moved to a different division in the company. Despite that, he still conducted Scott’s annual performance review and fired her. Scott said she relied in part on the words of CEO Clark, who had made an internal video promising his employees they would be protected from retaliation if they reported unethical conduct.

Merck claimed Scott would have lost her job anyway in its merger with Schering-Plough.

The trial had a weird twist when one of the jurors contacted Liberato after the verdict to say she had been rushed and pressured into making a verdict for Scott. Liberato reported the call to Merck’s counsel, who then reported it to the judge. The judge ruled that as the pressure was internal to the jury, no misconduct occurred. Merck also lost a motion to set aside the verdict after the trial.

The case itself is mosquito-sized in the world of Merck, which made $46 billion in sales last year. Yet Merck seems intent on using its elephant guns. Perhaps Merck’s new CEO, Ken Frazier, who was the company’s general counsel until 2007, can offer his lawyers some advice about focusing their efforts on more significant projects

This story epitomizes merck. these people are insane and in charge of the asylum. the dropped pen story reminds me of a managers car inspection when she stridently ask me what my tire pressures were. I happened to carry a tire gage with me, and without saying a word got out and calmly took the pressure of all four tires so she could fill it in. This same manager couldn't find her way accross town without getting lost and called me once to re-scheldule a field visit because she had run out of gas coming to meet me. I too have escaped the "cukuoo's nest" but I remember, what sometime in '06 Dick Clark promising to return merck to a "top tier" company. Never happened, never will.

 

[Anonymous]

I have just retired. We have to accept the fact that Merck has more lawyers and money than us. We can file a lawsuit and it will drag on until the Second Coming or you are bankrupted. So we are bitter. We are resentful of some of the injustice. I was a super star with tons of awards. Then they said you are a very poor rep. Sometimes I tell myself there is a better life out there. Move on. Move away from Merck. Explore the world out there. Breathe in the fresh air. Touch the flowers. Your entrapped retentive crazy managers will wake up and start next Tuesday to terrorize the reps again. My ego was bruised with three decades of Merck experience. I am not filthy rich. But I pity my former manager who has so many toys that he has to work his crappy job for awhile. He admitted to me that the pressure is getting to him but he is trapped financially. Not sure if I should feel bad for him or not.

I pray the managers that belittle reps to make themselves look good to some stupid director will get their day-I just don't know how they can sleep at night treating reps the way they do- They will have to answer to a higher power one day for their actions.
I too was a victim- great for years and then one day (post Vioxx) I became a poor rep- Then I suffered thru vaccines for a couple of years- great numbers but still a poor rep- I finally called it quits and that was the best decision EVER!!! Totally freeing- Life is too short folks! I have a job now that I don't dred getting up to do. I definitely don't have a jerk manager with "little man syndrome" telling me how to hold a detail piece or position my pen!

 

[Anonymous]

It was surreal. Last weel I was at the coffee shop I used to meet my manager for the morning interrogation (What is your plan today? Where are we going? Refresh me about our current strategies...). I watched another pharma manager doing the same crap with a rep. I kept on sipping my coffee. Life is good as a retiree. Even get senior discount for coffee. I missed those managers when I joined Merck three decades ago. We were friends. They were your champions. They came out, rode with you, and spent most of the time discussing how they could help you to get promoted to the next level and make more money. They valued you and wanted you to be wealthier, happier and more successful. Now the managers are like little Nazis.

 

[Anonymous]

It was surreal. Last weel I was at the coffee shop I used to meet my manager for the morning interrogation (What is your plan today? Where are we going? Refresh me about our current strategies...). I watched another pharma manager doing the same crap with a rep. I kept on sipping my coffee. Life is good as a retiree. Even get senior discount for coffee. I missed those managers when I joined Merck three decades ago. We were friends. They were your champions. They came out, rode with you, and spent most of the time discussing how they could help you to get promoted to the next level and make more money. They valued you and wanted you to be wealthier, happier and more successful. Now the managers are like little Nazis.

So true. Some managers show no interest in wanting you to get promoted, or helping you make more salary...manager's motto is keep 'em down...all the while the DM flunks in Basic Business 101.

 

[Anonymous]

So true. Some managers show no interest in wanting you to get promoted, or helping you make more salary...manager's motto is keep 'em down...all the while the DM flunks in Basic Business 101.

"KEEP 'EM DOWN" ISN'T THEIR MOTTO, IT'S THERE DIRECTIVE. The top goal is to get people to quit.

Managers are nothing more than useful idiots...right up until the time that they get thrown out on their ass, too.

Merck has become diseased.

 

[Anonymous]

It was surreal. Last weel I was at the coffee shop I used to meet my manager for the morning interrogation (What is your plan today? Where are we going? Refresh me about our current strategies...). I watched another pharma manager doing the same crap with a rep. I kept on sipping my coffee. Life is good as a retiree. Even get senior discount for coffee. I missed those managers when I joined Merck three decades ago. We were friends. They were your champions. They came out, rode with you, and spent most of the time discussing how they could help you to get promoted to the next level and make more money. They valued you and wanted you to be wealthier, happier and more successful. Now the managers are like little Nazis.

That's what baffles me. How we could change so as a company over 3 short decades. My first DM who hired me was indeed a champion. I had him for 10 years and he did his best to help me advance and get promoted. God bless him. Then things started to get squirrelly and by the end of the 90's, anybody with half a brain knew things had become rotten at Merck. The last half of my career at Merck I was made to feel constantly under some threat of demotion or loss of job. It was like I worked for two different companies. So happy to be out from under that dark cloud.

 

[Anonymous]

That's what baffles me. How we could change so as a company over 3 short decades. My first DM who hired me was indeed a champion. I had him for 10 years and he did his best to help me advance and get promoted. God bless him. Then things started to get squirrelly and by the end of the 90's, anybody with half a brain knew things had become rotten at Merck. The last half of my career at Merck I was made to feel constantly under some threat of demotion or loss of job. It was like I worked for two different companies. So happy to be out from under that dark cloud.

Amen to that. I view my "old" Merck managers as friends. They treated me as my advocate to move ahead. At the end of a field visit the manager would discuss what I could do better. But it was delivered in a context as if he was saying you know what you are doing but may be you can try this and that. Not today's version of are you incompetent or clueless? The famous saying, "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE FOR ME TODAY? NOT LAST YEAR. NOT YESTERDAY. TODAY! You stood 10 degrees tilted to the left while you were standing. Like raising a child. You gently reprimand him/her for misbehavior and yet overall you want to positively encourage him/her. My kids would be all basket cases if all I did was to hurl criticism after criticism at them. My second Merck manager was like the modern Merck manager. He was deemed too brash and unfit to be a Merck manager because he was not a very people person. Now do you think they pick any of the current Merck managers to be people oriented? What a big shift in how we think in only three decades.