One Good Thing Each Day

As a sales representative for a major pharmaceutical company, she calls on small clinics and doctors’ offices.  She covers parts of seven counties, a territory she’s served for the past 15 years. She recently applied for a promotion, and, to the surprise of no one in the company, she got it. 

To ensure a smooth transition, she worked with the new pharma rep for a month.  He was a personable young guy; they hit it off nicely from the start. He had the credentials and knowledge base necessary to be a solid pharma rep.  She was going to help him become familiar with the territory and the people he’d be serving. 

Their first week went smoothly, almost too smoothly, she told herself.  That wasn’t always the case, and she wanted to be with him when some of the inevitable problems associated with the position arose. She got her wish on Monday of the second week. 

On his way to meet her, he was involved in a minor fender-bender.  He had to wait for a police report, so that the other person’s insurance would cover the minor repairs to his brand-new company car. He called her to let her know he’d be late, and she was in touch with their supervisor.  When he arrived, he was frustrated.  He said, “What a start to a day.”  They changed their plan to have breakfast and look back on the first week, to a coffee to go and a chat during their drive to the first stop for the day. 

That stop was at a doctor’s office in a farming community, along the northern tier of her territory. It was a single-physician practice. His wife was his nurse, office manager, and pretty much everything else. Fortunately, she more than made up for what he lacked in office-side-manner.  The doctor greeted the current rep in a warm and friendly manner; they had built up a good rapport. When she introduced her soon-to-be replacement, the doctor’s demeanor changed rapidly. He made it very clear that he wasn’t happy dealing with a new rep. The young rep was more than a little uncomfortable as they left that office.

The rest of the morning was somewhat shadowed by that initial meeting. She didn’t want to overplay that encounter, nor did she want to underplay it. She just waited for him to process it, and see how he’d react. Two other meetings that morning were far more pleasant, but not friendly enough to erase the sting of the first one. 

Lunch was great! This was one of her favorite stops. The sign out front was spot on: “Best Burgers In the World.”  Every burger was made fresh and grilled exactly to order. The buns were made fresh every morning and toasted right alongside the burger, creating a burger-to-bun harmony that was delightful. You could have anything on the burger you could imagine, including peanut butter.  This was a recent addition suggested by a couple from Missouri, home of the peanut-butter-topped Goober burger.  This day she suggested they go with the House Burger, which featured mayo on the bottom bun, a piece of white American cheese, a layer of onion, the burger, a fried egg, another piece of cheese, and yellow mustard on the top bun. This was a variation of a Pennsylvania burger known as a Sundowner.  It was served with a side of hand-cut fries, coleslaw, two raisin-filled cookies, and a drink.

The three stops scheduled for the afternoon were cut to two because he had to take two lengthy phone calls to review the details of his minor mishap early in the day.  Human resources was the first call and the corporate insurance carrier was the second. It was literally nothing, but it was certainly messing up his day; his frustration was mounting. 

At the end of the day, she took some time to walk through his day with him. She started by just letting him vent, which he did. She didn’t try to soften anything he shared, but instead agreed that the day had indeed had its challenges. It’s what she shared next, that seemed to bring a little calm, some perspective, and a smile to his face.  

“But didn’t we have a great lunch.”  He readily agreed that they had.       

She concluded their day with what may be the most valuable things she shared during their month together. 

“Regardless of how tough a day may be, always try to find at least one thing that was good about it.  When you focus on something good, no matter how minor it may be, the impact of the not so good becomes less. It’s also a reminder that there’ll be something good about tomorrow too!”