Good News!

Good news if you happen to own Pfizer stock! You will be happy to know we have scaled WAAAAAAAAAAAY back…

Last week the Psychiatry sales division traveled back to Tarrytown, NY to learn about a new med we will be promoting. LeighAnn, my dear friend, cousin, and teammate and I booked our flights and traveled back east together for training.
We arrived at our hotel at 1:45 am, which was really fine because we are west coasters, after an hour long car trip from Newark. Max, the very friendly front desk manager at the Tarrytown Marriot, informed us he had some bad news, “Girls, your roommates have not yet arrived and we only have King size beds left.”Us, “So since there are not double rooms we get to room alone?!” (cheering and jumping up and down)
Max, “Uhhhh, no. But we can send up a rollaway for your rooms.”
Us. “We’re sorry but you are going to put us in rooms, with people we don’t know, in the middle of the night, with one bed and a rollaway?”
Now I’m thinking to myself, what is the protocol on this? Imagine yourself, an adult, working at a very large company, that requires adult strangers to share rooms. Now imagine that you have been informed that there will be one bed and some sort of cot fashioned in the room at 1:45 am. All I can think is how awkward! My roommate is going to arrive, potentially, around 3:00 am and where should she find me sleeping?
Do I take the bed, making it quite unfortunate when our alarm goes off at 6:30 am (3:30 am west coast time) and we debate who will shower first? Please remind yourself, I do not know the other lady I am being asked to sleep with. Or do I sacrifice my own well being for a stranger and sleep on the cot making her feel extremely guilty in the morning due to the fact that I am so polite? And if I take the bed and she explains this fact to other colleagues, what will they think? Will they say, “That girl is looking out for her own sleep comfort, right on!” Or will they think, “That is so selfish! Who takes the bed from a weary traveler?” I reason with myself and come to terms that, ineviatably, I will have to take the cot.
Then the REAL solution hits us. Pfizer has a very strict policy on no roommate changes. Barbaric, I know.
“Max, Max,” we beg, “please, put us together! We are family, we have shared beds and rooms our whole lives. Please, do the right thing, make the switch. The weary travelers will probably show up here later tonight (really this morning, it is AM afterall) together and they will be able to fight it out amongst themselves.”
Max looks around hesitantly, “Girls, there is a very strict no roommate change policy, I could get in big trouble for this.”
Us, “PULLLLEASE! No one will know!”
Max conceded and we skipped merrily to our king size bed. We are thrilled with our salesmanship! But this whole scenario makes me ask myself, why did this situation occur? Why should two adult strangers be asked to share rooms without 2 REAL beds?