Angry that I had misjudged her. And, to be honest, angry that my department took the brunt of the brutal media and had the job of cleaning up after her.”
Uncertain what to say to that lengthy declaration, Kimberly nodded rapidly. “I can understand those feelings, Ms. Slater. I’m sure that was a difficult time for you.”
“It’s still difficult! Here at work, I try to present a positive attitude, but I’m still not sure when this is going to end!” Blinking suddenly, she rushed, “Don’t write that down. That’s off the record.” An air of anxiety flew about the room as rapidly as her words.
“Oh, Ms. Slater, um… don’t worry. I’ll have questions for you that you can answer, and I’ll write up my information based on that. After all, this isn’t an exposé.”
“Of course, of course. I’m sorry.” Helen lifted her hand and smoothed her fingers over her hair. “As you can see, this entire ordeal has taken its toll on me and my department.”
“Yes, well, Ms. Slater, I thought to start off with, I’d let you give me an idea of what sales representatives actually do for Kilton Pharmaceuticals.”
Helen’s shoulders relaxed and her lips curved slightly. “In a nutshell, a pharmaceutical representative’s job is to educate physicians about the different drugs in our rapidly-changing industry. As you can imagine, new drugs are coming out all the time and, like with any industry, there is competition among the various producers of these drugs. But, unlike other industries where the product is innocuous, we have a great responsibility to make sure that our products are being purchased and used correctly.”
Hearing Helen’s canned answer, she shook her head. “Do you not think that simply providing doctors with written information about the various drugs would be enough? Is there a need to give samples? What about the studies on the value of giving drug samples?”
Lifting a brow, Helen tilted her head to the side and pinned Kimberly with a penetrating gaze. “I see you’ve done some homework.”
“I know there’s a great deal of debate in this industry about the value of giving drug samples. On one hand, the idea is to get the drugs into the hands of lower-income patients who might not be able to afford their medication. Unfortunately, some studies show that less than a third of the patients receiving the medication are low income.”
“Wanting to make sure that Kilton Pharmaceuticals is up-to-date on the latest information that affects my department, I’m aware of these numerous studies.” Helen glanced out the window and sat quietly for a moment. She slowly shook her head and sighed. “Another study showed that nearly half of all pharmaceutical representatives surveyed reported using samples themselves or giving them to their friends or relatives.” She turned and pinned Kimberly with a hard stare and added, “I’d like to believe that very few of the Kilton sales reps abuse the samples given to them to distribute. But I’d be a fool to not know that some do. Pharmaceuticals in the wrong hands… I used to never think about it and now it keeps me up at night.”
Helen’s face fell and her shoulders slumped as though the weight of the world was pressing down. Desperate to think of something to say, Kimberly prompted, “So, giving away drugs comes down to the positive outweighing the negative?”
Helen shrugged and said, “Some doctor offices now refuse to accept samples. If that becomes the norm, it will completely change the face of my job.”
They continued talking for several more minutes, Kimberly scribbling everything down as fast as she could. She’d walked into the office assuming that she would hear nothing but glowing news about pharmaceutical representatives from Helen and that Beth was the anomaly but, instead, she now had an interview from an employee who was beleaguered, frustrated, and uncertain about her career future. I doubt this is what Sally Gleason wants me to write about. Curiosity piqued, she decided to learn more about what Beth had been involved in.
Kimberly stepped off the elevator onto the plush fourth floor once again, this time to interview Thomas Kilton, the President’s son and Vice President of Finance and Administration. His office was similar to Sally’s—plush carpet, a wall of bookcases, a highly-polished wooden desk. The difference in his corner office was the view out the windows—he could see trees.
Thomas greeted her with a wide smile and the family resemblance was strong and quite evident with his father’s picture proudly displayed on the wall. Various awards