David Cureño, on Getting Stronger Through Teamwork

I had a career in construction before I came to SpotOn. In the beginning, I really liked it—working with my hands, working as a team. But then the pay started going down and the demands started going up. It became a quality of life thing for me. Just before I left, an average day started with me getting on the subway at 5 am and getting home at 10 at night. It was bad for me and it was bad for my family.

Becoming a customer support specialist at SpotOn has been truly life-changing for me and for my family.  Although I come to work every day before 8:30, an hour before I need to, I do this because I’m excited to come to work and I enjoy the quiet time to get ready for my day. It’s a far cry from 5 am! My family is so grateful that I not only have more time to spend with them, but more energy.

There are a lot more parallels than you’d think between working customer support and construction. The biggest one is being respectful of people’s time. A close second is valuing the collective efforts of the team. And finally, doing your best so you can take pride in your work. I take an incredible sense of pride in my work, whether I’m building a movie theater or troubleshooting for a customer.

Part of taking pride in my work is fueled by a core value learned during my time in the Air Force: do the right thing, even if nobody's watching. Especially if no one is watching.  That means bringing my patience, my problem-solving, and my whole self to each and every call I take. So I can give it the right amount of time and attention needed to solve it—efficiently and with a smile. It’s so important to bring a sense of calm to my work, even though my customers can be feeling a sense of urgency. I treat them the way I want to be treated—compassionately and knowledgeably.

Sometimes I have the answers, and sometimes my teammates have the answers. We work together to share knowledge because it’s the best way to best help our customers. You cannot pick up a log on your own. It takes two people.  So that means one person equals the team because each person matters. And the cool thing about that teamwork is that it doesn’t only help the client solve their problem, it helps the individual members of our team get stronger by learning from each other every day. So I come to work every day knowing that I am going to do my best and leave every day knowing that I will come back the next day even better because of my team. That is amazing.