Craig Myers
Unit Turnover Supervisor
At what moment did you know DISH was for you?
It wasn’t really a moment. We started out and we just kind of grew. In the beginning, Doug and Lauren knew their role and everything, but on the Facilities side, we were lost. We knew we fixed things and cleaned the buildings. We slowly grew and matured and learned everything. Once we got to a certain point, I really enjoyed what we were doing. I enjoyed the learning part. There was never really a moment but more of a feeling, like coming to work and seeing the happiness that we instill in tenants. I feel like our society has existed for so long that, in the beginning, we were born to survive. But now, our society is at a point where we have ships and we can go to the moon. So why can’t everybody have a home? I see that we’re trying to do that with our 570 units; it’s a small part of the picture but it’s also a big part. Everybody that’s here, everybody that lives in our buildings, they appreciate not being on the street. It’s a really good feeling to be part of helping that. I’ve been homeless before and it’s not fun. I was homeless with my 2-year-old son, living in my truck. I have a lot of sympathy for people that don’t have a home. Everybody should have something. Our society shouldn’t be so lopsided, and I see how hard we work to try to make homes for people.
What is your first fond memory of DISH?
I really, really liked and felt really proud when we got the Auburn. Because that was for the Vets. I really took that to heart because, as a Vet myself (I was never a combat Vet, but I made sacrifices to be a Vet), I met a lot of the guys in our building that are Vets and some of them made tough sacrifices. They went to war and fought for us. But it’s bigger than that. I went into the military in 1979 and got out in ’87; that was 8 years away from my family. When I came back, I lost probably four real close members of my family within the next 7-8 years and I think back to all the time I didn’t have with them; so that was a big sacrifice for me. Not having Thanksgiving nor Christmas with my family was hard. So, when we picked up the Auburn and had the grand opening, I really felt proud. I loved welcoming the Vets in when I would see them.
Why did you stay over the years?
One thing that I really like is knowing that decisions aren’t just made on a piece of paper, like, “Ok, this is going to happen.” A lot of the decisions that are made are decisions where they sat down at a table with quite a few people and it’s discussed. They vote. They just try to figure it out, try to decide, you know? Every decision in the organization is not going to be that way, but a lot of decisions are made that way. I can feel good when I have to go to my guy and say, “Ok this is what we have to do now. This is what we’re going to do.” Because I know that it was thought out. It wasn’t just randomly thrown out there: “Okay, Turn Team is going to do this” or “Janitorial is going to do that.” It was thought out. That’s something that’s really kept me here.
And I just love what we do. I love talking to the tenants. I love talking to other employees. If you look at my vacation and sick time, it’s stacked up…because I don’t use it that much. I enjoy coming to work. On weekends, I say, “Okay, Monday’s coming. It’s time to go.” I enjoy being here.