Richard Talabay

Richard Talabay

Introduction

• Born outside Chicago in a town with roots in refineries and factories, I was raised outside Dallas in the city of Allen. Starting at 16, I steadily worked a variety of jobs, doing well in each. I excelled in school and graduated near the top of my class, being accepted into the International Baccalaureate program. In Sherman, Texas, at Austin College, I studied a variety of things and graduated with a Bachelor's in Psychology. Jumping ahead to 2022, I started a Master's of Social Work program (primarily online, permitting a flexible schedule). Down the line, the goal after graduation is to pass the Master's of Social Work licensing exam, then complete the necessary requirements to be a Licensed Clinical Social Worker. 
• Through my range of hotel experiences to the tough house manufacturing job at Tru, It would be nice to be ‘in network’ with people that are working jobs that I have worked. Professionalism and rapport are a part of counseling, but I've found that many of them are a bit out of touch and see people through textbook pages. Anyway. 
• Work, “life” and school all need to be present to be productive and successful in each. Physical work is the best, as I have learned with the jobs I have had. This was most represented at Tru, where every day is a workout (in a way voluntary because plenty of people get away with hiding in the bathroom or chatting with their buddies). The plant could be 106 degrees in the summer or 35 in the winter, but work was completed to the production quota of the day. Working through whatever conditions was satisfying because the purpose of what the plant workers doing was getting completed. 

Selected Job Experiences

A) Hostel Inn Tango City, Buenos Aires, Argentina:

• For six months at the end of 2006 to Fall of 2007 I lived and worked at the hostel mentioned. I actually moonlighted at a second, fancier hostel for most of that time, too. I was a barman, a breakfast attendant, a casual security escort, a bellboy, a concierge, a tour guide and an English teacher. Being at the hostel and having accidentally made friends with the guy and his girlfriend shielded us from being burglarized during high tourism season (I did not know this until a few days before I left). The property was a narrow 5-level, city center building with an old 3'x4' elevator that didn't work. Backpackers carry awkward heavy bags - hauling this up awkward winding stairs is a big task. Unloading the boxes to stock the bar and carrying them downstairs was tricky, as well.

B) Hyatt

• The Hyatt Regency Dallas provided many opportunities to work in the different departments of the hotel, that staffed 5-600 people. I worked at the front, checking people in and training new employees. This involved different corporate profiles for convention guests, Hyatt club members as well as regular guests. I worked the night audit (11:00 pm - 7:00 am) Friday, Saturday and sometimes Sunday, returning to mornings or afternoons. I worked with the head of security for the NBA when we hosted the All Star Games, assisted in prepping hundreds of dishes “assembly line style” for Banquets, moved 3,000 pounds of mostly wet laundry for Housekeeping and more. On the final hours of a night shift, when I was the only worker at the 70 foot front desk and 300 convention attendees want check out to get an early start toward the airport, I was quickly handled multiple guests on three or four computers. 

C) Tru Homes

• I moved from North to Central Texas in January of 2020, COVID did what COVID did shortly after. Being hired at Tru was a game changer for my life because of the type of work involved. I tracked myself jogging 22,000 steps a day, burning 6-7,00 calories and leaving energized… but the moment I got in the passenger seat for the ride home, I would nod off. My co-workers were very different from one another, but everyone came together for the purpose of passing a house to the next stage - at Tru, raw materials enter (drywall, timber, screws and nails, paint, pipes, etc.) and after being moved through ten stations via tracks of chains on the floor, a house rolls out. The company was good to us and we were good to it. We brought our plant to the top of the list within the company. My role was like cross fit - lifting and carrying awkward, heavy things upstairs and across the floor. There were many repetitive actions performed that involved multiple steps. 

Conclusion

• I have worked more than these 3 jobs. The ones that are and aren't listed here added skills and built on those already in play. What I have handled are time crunches, improvisation, lifting and moving heavy things, hustling while carrying large objects, hurrying with my hands on fragile things and - almost as equally important - gotten along with people of all stripes. Camaraderie enhances the flow of whatever needs to be done and this is something I naturally adhere to.