The team at Riordan Materials Corporation( left to right): Michael Wilks, sales engineer; Mariann London, accountant; Carl Janson, president; Tom Schell, past vice president; Anna Marie Damiani, PA office manager; Lori Baroga, MD office manager; August Koloras, PE partner, secretary / treasurer; Arthur Auchenbach, PE partner, vice president; and Thomas Rainier, partner, vice president.
Comparing“ Then” to“ Now”
Drawing a comparison between then and now, Janson notes that in 1984“ Cell phones were just in their infancy. They were about as heavy as bricks and came with a cumbersome battery pack. You were lucky if you got two hours out of them. On top of that they were very expensive to use. When you looked at it, using the cell phone was a last resort. Most of us depended on using a pay phone and once you located one you had to make sure there were no competitive reps around to overhear your conversation. Compare that to today when all of us use cell phones, e-mail and texts.”
Then came the fax machine.“ I was a bit of a‘ tech guru’ back then and I felt we had to have a fax machine. The head of the agency argued against that and said if we didn’ t receive something via mail, it wasn’ t worthwhile. I argued that we had to have a fax machine and that in the long run it would save us money. I finally convinced him and we took delivery. Back then fax machines only used thermal paper. We’ d receive a fax and then file the paperwork away. After a period of time, we’ d access the fax but found we couldn’ t read them— the printing had faded or disappeared completely. As a result, we then began copying faxes when we received them. It couldn’ t have been more inefficient. Compare that to today when we’ re so dependent on e‐mail and text messages.”
Just an as any rep will agree, times have changed and Janson notes that today“ Customers and principals want an answer in a hurry— they’ re not going to wait for the mail or fax communication. I can’ t count the times when I get a call at 8 a. m. from someone wanting an answer to a text or e- mail they had sent me earlier that morning.”