In most of the cases, a
medical representative is supposed to be independent in-charge of his whole territory.
He usually goes to nearby towns and villages by two-wheeler. But if the
distance is more than 50 km, then public transport is preferred. Since the
medical representative needs to frequently travel to different markets in his
territory, he is usually aware of the routes, availability of modes of public
transport, convenient timings of going to a particular market, safe timings of
staying in or coming back from a particular market, etc. But first line
managers are taught to never believe in what the representative says. This
incident is related to such misunderstanding between a medical representative
and his first line manager.
The medical
representative was a new recruit and was working at Ranchi as base town. The
manager was based at Patna and was on a two day visit to Ranchi. He planned to
cover Hazaribagh and Ramgarh in a single day. Hazaribagh is about 100 km from
Ranchi and Ramgarh is about 40 km in between. Usually, representatives go to
Ramgarh and return to the base town on the same day. They go to Hazaribagh and
stay there for a couple of days to finish the work. The medical representative
told his manager that it was not possible to cover both the markets in a single
working day. He also told that once it becomes late evening in Ramgarh, it is
difficult to find a mode of conveyance to go back to Ranchi. But the manager
was hell bent on imposing his will.
So, they proceeded to Hazaribagh by a bus.
They started early in the morning and reached Hazaribagh by 10 AM. After
finishing the work at about 4 PM, they boarded a bus for Ramgarh. By the time,
they reached Ramgarh, there were a few buses and jeeps to be seen near Ramgarh
Bus Stand. It was already dark and there was power cut in the town. The manager
was roaming in the bus stand; enquiring about the next bus or jeep for Ranchi.
All the while, he was hurling all kinds of de-motivating words at the medical
representative. Because of his restless attitude, the manager could not see a
taut rope in his path and entangled his feet in the rope. The manager fell on
the ground with his face smeared with mud. He was furious at his best and began
hurling abuses at the medical representative. The medical representative helped
his manager to stand on his feet. He tried to calm down the manager and took
him to a nearby dhaba. After washing the mud from his face and cloth, the
manager proceeded to search for a hotel room so that they could spend the night
at Ramgarh.
The meager allowance they
were getting did not permit them to hire a decent hotel. They ended up in a
shabby room which was full of cobwebs and dust. The mattress was full of bugs
and had a nauseating smell. The hotel’s staff gave a filthy blanket to them.
The medical representative offered the manager to enjoy the full warmth of the
solitary blanket. He said he would manage with his jacket.
They spent the sleepless
night at the ramshackle hotel. Next day, both of them returned to Ranchi. Being
a new recruit, the medical representative was so angry that he took a day off.
The manager had to cool his heels in his hotel room throughout the day.
Finally, in the evening he boarded the train to be back to Patna.
