Dale Carnegie courses help turn around attitude
Eliseo Rios
“Early on, my dad was a route driver for Faust Distributing. He delivered Falstaff beer before they changed to Miller. He worked there for years. But then he had a stroke, and he just couldn’t do that work anymore.
“So he went to work for Lee College as a maintenance supervisor. It was really hard for him. Like, ‘I’m going to be a janitor?’ It was a very humbling experience.
“But Dr. Cloud, who was the president there at the time, recognized the struggle my dad was dealing with. So he sent him to some Dale Carnegie courses for free. That really helped my dad turn his attitude around. He learned how to do things like redo hardwood floors, because he had to keep up with the gym. So he got this extra skill set. He became very proud of his work.
Cindy Rios and her mother, Winona
“Years later, I was helping a guy who had a computer company, and I knew that he was a professor at Lee College. My dad was retired from the college at the time. When the professor learned who my dad was, he shared this story that he told his students every year.
“He said, ‘I told them that he was an intelligent man. I knew he was very proud of his work. But I also knew that he probably had the ability to do a lot more than that. I didn’t know how he got there. I didn’t know why he was doing janitorial work. But he was very proud of the job he was doing and he had a very good attitude.’ He said, ‘I told my class, that’s a take on life that everybody should have. No matter where you are or what you’re doing, you need to make the best of it.’ I thought that was so neat. And when I told my dad, he couldn’t have been more proud.”
— Cindy Rios
Cindy’s dad, Eliseo Rios, was nicknamed “Bambi” in high school because of his ability to run the hurdles in track. Her mother, Winona, was one of the first women to own and operate a barbershop in Baytown. The 13th of 15 children, Winona continued cutting hair into her 80s.
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