I got bribed today. Big time. Remember the representative who got to the wrong side of me? If not, visit here to read the story before you continue further.
I said she was not going to visit our practice if it was up to me. Well, turns out it wasn’t up to me. The others wanted her to come. We had run out of toothpaste samples because the toothpaste manufacturers have started to be rather stingy recently. Perhaps the economic depression has hit them as well? I have noticed this phenomenon also at the dental show cases. Couple of years ago you could get lots of freebies but this year you needed to fill in a questionnaire or a competition to receive one travel sized tube of toothpaste. I didn’t bother.
Anyway, I was not looking forward to this rep coming to our practice as the previous meeting did not go that well. And when she came in, I realised she thought so as well.
First she complemented me about my looks. She did not compliment anybody else. And for your information I do not look like Snow White and the rest of the staff like the seven Dwarfs. So my interpretation of this was that she was trying to break the ice.
Then she began the presentation. Having learned my lesson last time I only listened and did not ask anything. I replied if she asked me a question.
I must say the new electric toothbrush she was demoing to us was quite impressive. It was up-to-date with the smart phone application and the position detection. The only questionable feature was the smart phone holder. It has a suction cup that is supposed to hold my 700+＄smart phone at the hight of my face. I dared to ask about it and the rep said it will hold any smart phone as long as the surface is smooth and clean (should be preferably wiped with alcohol prior attaching the holder to the tiles or a mirror – but still I would not attach my smart phone to the holder).
Then she moved on to the toothpastes. Oh dear god how many different kinds of toothpastes they had. Too many in my opinion. The professionals won’t remember which one was for which problem and the patients will be even more confused – like one of my patient said to me
“I went to look for the sensitive one but couldn’t find it anymore. Instead there was so many new ones that I did not buy anything.”
Turns out that they have discontinued the sensitive one. Why didn’t they stick to the one that was supposed to deal with all the problems in mouth?
Then she gave us samples of one of the new toothpastes. She wanted us to try it out and report to her what we thought about it. Naturally she praised the toothpaste while I was browsing through the ingredients. Zinc lactate! Zinc in toothpastes can cause dry mouth. I felt the urge to mention it but remembered our last meeting when I did so. So I stayed silent.
But then came the grande finale. She took out the new, top of the line electric toothbrush and handed it to me with words
“I’m afraid I have only one of these to give out and I thought that it should be you.”
I felt the others staring at me in disbelief but all I could do was to look at the shiny and sleek black packaging she was handing to me. And without hesitation I accepted the gift.
Now, I am not sure what all of this meant. Was she trying to make up the last encounter? Or was she trying to convert me? Could she remember out of hundreds of customers that I am THE ONE not using their toothbrush? That would be scary.
If she tried to convert me, she could not have picked a worse target. I may accept gifts, try them out as expected but I cannot be bribed. I doubt there will ever be better electric toothbrush than my beloved Philips Sonicare.
Dental Revelations 