塔莎Clavo
The first time 塔莎Clavo was invited along on her grandma’s daily walk, she learned firsthand how much energy and patience go into a life of public service. Clavo, 那时他才12岁, 同意跟着我, unaware that she had signed up for a 10-mile trek from Platte Park to Colorado Boulevard and back. It turned out that this was her grandma’s regular route, 查看她的邻居, 有房子的和没有房子的, and making sure everyone was surviving the day.
“我们要停下来吗?? Are we going to get something to eat?" she would wonder as they walked block after block, but her grandma wouldn’t stray from her mission. “这与我们无关，”她回忆道.
今天, Clavo looks back on that time and understands why she feels so at home being an RTD bus operator. “我天生就是干这个的，”她说. “To take care of people like my grandma took care of people just for the enjoyment of it.”
Even before her memorable journey across Denver and back, Clavo used to push her siblings around the neighborhood in a shopping cart, 在公共汽车站停车, 实与虚. “我会说，‘我让你在这里下车.’ ‘You stay there and I’ll come back and pick you up.’ I always knew I was going to be a bus operator,” she recalled.
几十年后, when RTD called to follow up on her application, she knew the timing was finally right. Clavo had been thinking about getting her commercial driver’s license, and she knew RTD would give her the training she needed to fulfill a lifelong goal. “I look forward to going to work every day,”她说。. “Each person I come in contact with, each individual, helps me with my purpose.”
Clavo谈到了目的, it doesn’t take long to realize what she’s referring to – her calling to share compassion and kindness with everyone she encounters. “I know what it's like to struggle,”她说。. “这是一个相互让步的问题.”
Coming up on her fifth year with RTD, Clavo sees her relationship to her customers as a give and take. By putting each other first, everyone wins. “My job is safety over everything,” she explained. “我的安全就是你的安全. So, if you're safe and I'm safe, we’re all better off.”
Clavo’s philosophy is there's no “I” in “team”: “We’ve got to make this a team, basically. If someone’s headphones are too loud or they’re talking on their phone, 我只是让他们留心. When you put it that way, people become more considerate of each other.”
Having started at RTD before the beginning of the pandemic, Clavo has watched as the number of customers fell, 然后又慢慢地升起. Through regular work and varied routes, she has come to understand how every person experiences public transportation in a different way.
“At the end of the day, it's about the passengers,”她说。. “You never know what a person might be going through. I might make that day better by saying, ‘Hey, let's get to where you got to go.’”
“People work; they have appointments. 这不是我的事. 这是关于我身后的每个人.”
最近, Clavo was able to make a big difference for a local couple who boarded her bus trying to go to some shops on Christmas Day. When she realized they could not speak English, Clavo pulled out her phone and opened a translation app to communicate with them. She was able to tell them that their destination would be closed, and they should save their money and try again the next day.
“It feels good when you can help people with giving the knowledge that they need,”她说。, 回首那一天.
不足为奇的是, 她的家庭生活, Clavo places a strong emphasis on fostering the same kind of resourcefulness and self-sufficiency in her children. In direct contrast to using technology to quickly resolve on-the-job challenges, she teaches them to not rely solely on technology, and encourages a balanced use of analog skills. She keeps a dictionary and other reference books on hand – and carries on the tradition of playing gin rummy that started with her mom and grandma.
Clavo is also an avid baker, from Mississippi mud pie to her mom’s favorite red velvet cake. She is carrying on her family’s matriarchal penchant for filling up the people around her with love.
“动机是关键. 工作激励着我，”Clavo说. “我的孩子们. 我的丈夫. 我被他们驱使着. And the more I get pushed, the more I want to do.”
Whether she is baking something sweet or simply showing up to be a familiar and friendly face in the community, Clavo rises to every occasion to help the people around her as best she can.
“I know I can make somebody else smile when I open the bus door and say, ‘Good morning,’”她说。. 重复她的咒语, Clavo笔记, “You don’t get as many wrinkles when you smile as you do when you frown.”