Work Life
Ruben, from Spain
This is Ruben, from Spain. And when I say Spain, there's a little sense of pride in my voice.
He was the first person to interview me. At the time, I thought he was just someone from HR. You think that was it? No! I still had to go through two more interviews. And guess what? They accepted me!
What a surprise, right? They should have accepted me. I was well-educated, had plenty of work experience, and had an IELTS score of 9. So, I was a perfect fit!
No, no, I'm joking. I probably had a 5% chance of getting the job, but Ruben gave me a chance. And that's why I love Ruben. That's why I admire him. He's respectful, seems like a nice and mature person, and, although I've never had the chance to meet him in person, I have a lot of respect for him.
All the heroes wear a mask!
Jorge
There is another side to the story: Jorge. I met him once, about a year ago. The first thing you notice about him is that he's tall.
He's ridiculously tall. He should play in the NBA or something.
He was also the person who interviewed me for the third time. At the time, I thought he was nobody. I was wrong!
He's the right-hand man. Or maybe Ruben is. Honestly, I have no idea. There are so many things about this company that I still haven't figured out.
Anyway, both of them are pretty cool. You've got to believe me; otherwise, there's a good chance I'll get fired. I should probably try to get their attention. Honestly, that's one of the reasons I enjoy having a blog.
So why am I here?
The answer is easy. Iran has a big, lively ceramics market, full of factories and people who love beautiful tiles. So I came here with three other guys from Iran. Our mission is to help the business grow and, of course, add real value for the customers we serve and for our company. And that's cool.
Because growth and added value don't come easy. First of all, in this field you need very, very, very high-quality materials. In case you don't know, Spain and Italy are among the best in the world at this. They are good, and I'm good too. That's why I'm here. And you? Who knows, maybe one day you'll join us!
Anyway, I was saying that it's hard work. Ceramics is incredibly complex, and there's always a new puzzle to solve. You may ask: isn't it just a tile? One piece of clay that goes into the kiln? Believe it or not, no, no, no. I used to think like you too. But look!
How is it done? Well, do you know how clay pots are made? Tiles are pretty much the same. First, a lot of clay that has been turned into tiny granules gets pressed. Then a white layer of engobe goes on top. Think of the engobe as a white sheet of paper, and then they print on that white paper. After that, a layer of glaze goes on top to make the tile even more beautiful.
Of course, that's the most basic version. But it's enough for now. And for every part of this story, we have our own people. This is where the rest of the guys come in:
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Commercial
- Ruben
- Jorge
- Sadegh
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Glaze technicians
- Emillio
- Frank
- Sadegh
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Ink technicians
- Enrique
- Me
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Digital machine technicians
- Santi
- Dimitri
- Hector
- Me
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Design
- Melina
- Sama
So these are, more or less, the people who try to add value and give the service, technically and commercially. Now imagine there are lots of countries where Torrecid provides a service. And in each of them, there is a group like this one.
It's a big network! So when we go to a customer and anything goes wrong, we have this big green family to ask for support. And we're pretty sure our comrades-in-arms are always “locked and loaded”.