“Inside the Mountain”: When the customer joins the crew

Aridson Fortes, Shred Plant Supervisor, New Jersey

When your customer is one of the biggest financial players in the world, you have to be prepared to troubleshoot. Aridson Fortes is an expert troubleshooter.

“One day, I met up with the person in charge of the entire account at their office on Wall Street and they were not happy with us at all.”

They had made surprise requests before, maybe a few extra boxes for shredding than what was on the order, and the team would always try to accommodate. This was different. This was a bulk order to move and store hundreds of boxes. They didn’t want to hear, “We can pick it up Friday.” They needed the space tomorrow, so they wanted these sensitive documents – all of them – out that day.

With empathy, calm, and an extra empty van, Aridson talked to the customer to understand their needs and found a solution that bridged the gap between their urgency and our reality. And seeing Aridson’s and the other Mountaineers’ level of dedication, the customer jumped in to help.

“That day we loaded a 26-foot truck and my van with almost a thousand boxes. It ended on a positive note because they wanted it out of there, they helped us, and we got it done together.”

Meet Ardison Fortes

Aridson started at Iron Mountain nearly 20 years ago as a rush driver, bouncing between warehouses and customer sites to make the kind of same-day deliveries that Iron Mountain customers appreciate so much. He loved the excitement of the job and how much he learned about our entire business by picking up records from different facilities and delivering them to customers. He later became the driver on a route that included one of the largest investment banks on Wall Street. Now the supervisor of a secure destruction plant, he credits one thing for his career advancement: “I've always been very hungry to learn. I don't like feeling stale doing the same thing over and over again.”

His manager, Jesse Matos, says he sees that desire to learn and has been more than happy to support. “I nominated him recently and he was enrolled in our Supervisor Development Program. He is an absolute pleasure to work with and an even better individual.”

Question: When family and friends ask you what you do for work, how do you describe your job and Iron Mountain as a company?

Answer: I ask them, "What bank do you have?" And I tell them, well, at some point your check comes into my building and I'm responsible to make sure that it gets shredded to federal standards so your information is safe.

Question: What part of your job do you take the most pride in?

Answer: I take pride in making sure that people understand what we have in our hands while we're doing a delivery or a pickup. I tell new Mountaineers, “Listen, we are here to protect people's information.”

Question: What advice do you have for frontline Mountaineers who want to succeed and grow here?

Answer: Work ethic is everything. Make sure your coordinator sees you on the floor or sees you getting your routes done because they’re the ones who are going to vouch for you when you say, "Hey, I would like to be a coordinator."

Also, it’s important to have a lot of patience and stay calm when dealing with customers. Understanding people's needs is key, and the willingness to say, “This is where I can help you. Can we try this?”

Question: How have you built a culture of teamwork within your team?

Answer: Because I came from the bottom up, I can always be an example of what needs to get done. I'm not asking them to do anything that I'm not willing to do. When you are the example and you join them in the task, a lot of times the next time you ask them they can do it on their own and they’ll say, “Don't worry about it. I got it.”

Question: How do you ensure that your team stays focused on safety even when things get busy or change rapidly?

Answer: I make sure I understand my team and how to approach them. Understanding who's who, so they don't lose focus and do things the right way. I try to create an environment where they don't feel like I'm being unrealistic, pushing them to do too much, so we don’t make unnecessary mistakes.

Question: What has been your favorite moment as a Mountaineer?

Answer: I became a Sentinel coach in 2018. Sentinels help new Mountaineers find their footing and support their onboarding. It was a good feeling that the company invests in giving us the tools to grow.