Anyone remember Rickeys Hyatt on El Camino in Palo Alto where Syntex used to put everyone up during new rep training? I'll never forget the '50s motor lodge feel of the rooms at Rickeys and having a complete stanger for a roommate for those couple of training weeks as well as the awful study/training cabana. On the other hand, the pool was nice and Rickeys was fairly close to some decent restaurants and bars. Heard that Rickeys was torn down in the mid 90's and replaced with some expensive houses.
LOL I was just thinking about that place! i remember the murphy beds in the study room that we were warned not to use to have sex in. Also, i remember getting meal money and being happy to stretch it out and use it for drinking on the weekends. It was like being paid to go to college, and it was a lot of fun.
I remember the meal money and also the weekend drinking. There was an assortment of decent bars/restaurants within easy travel distance of Rickey's. Drinking on the weekends was pretty much a standard part of Syntex training from what I understand. New rep training was fun. Always wondered how many new rep guys and gals ended up in the sack together under Rickey's roof. Know for certain of two couples who were coupling in my training class who didn't keep it much of a secret. Great gossip for the training class. Syntex was an outstanding and fun company to work for. They sure don't make them like that anymore.
Great memories at Rickeys. My first job in big pharma and it was the early 80's and I was on the prowl. First memory was knocking on the door of a female classmate. she opened the door fully in the nude. She later screamed and I ran. The funny thing is that this woman later became a DM in the midwest and the guy that ran out in the hallway later became a regional manager in the south. Another memory was when i befriended someone in HR. I went out with her friends and a couple of other reps to a party at the Mariott in Oakland. Later in training, 2 of us hooked up with girls that we met that night. The 3rd memory was when I befriended the woman who helped run the fleet dept. We went out on the weekend and went watersking. All the reps were hanging out the window looking at me leaving in a convertible on the weekend with a chick from the home office. The last memory was when I had a crush on the nasalide product manager. she found out and pulled me out of training to talk with her in her office. I figured I was a sales person so I tried to close, asking her out to dinner. she did not bite. Even offered to help paint her apt as her roomate was hot as well. What great times those were. also there was a chinese restaurant that Chris (trainer) used to take the class. Anyone remember the name of the place? Great memories!
I remember the Chinese restaurant but for the life of me can't recall the name. Do recollect that the food was simply awesome. Some pretty good adventures also took place at the annual Regional Conferences. Will never forget one Regional Conference I attended where 2 female and 2 male reps were (quite loudly) going at it group-wise in the room next to mine. Really! This was the same Regional Conference where the (smokin' hot) female Regional Rep of the Year wore a dress so ultra low cut at the awards dinner that every guy in the place had his eyeballs popping out. Understand that she was later "spoken to" about appropriate business attire by the male RM. Syntex training, conferences and meetings were fun. Syntex was a layed-back outfit that knew how to treat its people.
I remember Ricky's!I was training with Syva company a Syntex Division and went to training 1980!I thought Palo Alto was really cool and the Syva headquarters was across from HP!Nobody at Syva lived in Palo Alto since it cost to much to live in town.Those were the days.To bad I wasn't tuned into the computer industry back then.That was the hot bed of computer development and chips.
I had the most god-awful room mate during part of new rep training. This dude was a middle-aged fundamentalist who was the most intolerant sonofabitch I've ever known. He was constantly complaining to the training counselors and the training manager about us folks in the class and the boozing and carrying-on that was happening. Fundamentalist dude was finally moved into his own room in another wing of Rickey's. After that we all completely avoided this guy. Heard that he was canned shortly after he returned back from new rep training. What a complete jerk!
I remember going to training, getting really drunk on a Fri nite and getting buttfucked by a tranny from Oakland.
The Naslaide manager was T.Matthews. I remember I had a crush on her also. What a lot of fun working for Syntex. I started in the early 80's and made it all the way until the Roche massive layoff's. That was a sad day! I was a district manager and had to notify 12 reps. They kept 1 out of the group and all the rest were gone. I was notified the next day that "my services were no longer needed". Worked for some good companies since, but none as good as Syntex!
Syntex was the best! Made several good friends in new rep training that I still have today. Suprisingly we're all still in pharma sales with different companies and all doing well.
Rickey's was fun but I had a drunk for a roommate. This guy was out boozing just about every night and all the weekends. Don't know how he ever made it through training because he never studied. Complained to Pepe about the dude which seemed to help for a little while. Anyway, I liked the rest of the people who were in my training class. The training was hard work but fun and the atmosphere wsa definitely layed back.
I worked for Syva a division of syntex. It was the sodom and gomora of companies. I was twenty eight years old when I started. we had a marketing manger that looked like Julia Roberts. One night after dinner she showed up at my door and well...... Then I met another rep a year or so later that had decided on her honeymoon that her new husband was an ass. We went to the Ponderosa Ranch in Reno, and it was the wildes night of my life when we got back to the hotel. I have never been able to duplicate that. I heard a lot of other stuff that took place, like 10 guys and one girl in a hot tub stories. Boy its been 15 years and I still miss that place!
I worked for Syva from 1980 to 1987. Was Turk VP then? Who was your manager?Mike Breen was Nat'l Manager.
Richard Bowman until he got sick then Carl Fusco until he went Mental then the wonderful Pat Hanaman...She was great....
