Room Clutter

The pharmaceutical and medical fields are inseparable.

Which is why, I find it hard to not smile in return at a medical representative despite my heavy ward workload or even when I'm in a hurry to get off work and go home, and a rep stands in front of my car to get my signature.

But what to do with all the room clutter that's left when all the dust settles, is kind of becoming a problem. All these giveaways -- large bags with their brand name logos plastered all over the front and back, large paper bags, folders with product endorsements and prices, cotton containers, soap, boxes of tissue paper both dry and wet wipes, pens, bookmarks, prescription and lab pads, clocks, you name it -- are taking up a chunk of space in our small, err, cozy room.

I love freebies as much as the next MD, but I don't go out of my way to collect them. Because more often than not, these thingamajigs all become room clutter -- space occupying lesions if you will.

Well if they're still giving them for free, I'm just gonna smile and bear it. After all, these are free. And freeloaders can't really be choosers (I wouldn't go so far as to say beggars, but let's not seem all too eager to line up sometimes?). But I wish I had space to put them where I'd actually keep our room immaculately clean.

But then again, that just wouldn't be our room, won't it?

So I'll still take the bags and give them to my mom and wife, give away the pens as nurse bribes to carry out my orders first (we get weak-a$$ pens anyway, and I have this thing about using my own pens that can actually spit out a thick black line of ink instead of gray), the prescription pads go to whoever wants them, the folders and envelopes to the office, and the sample meds to my charity patients.

All's well that ends well. The dust settles, the clutter is gone.

That is, until the next coverage day.