Out of the blue, someone in Point Dume took to the internet to publicly give a shout-out to Robert Moreno, who works the customer counter at the U.S. Post Office there. What followed was an avalanche of praise and good feelings from over 100 local residents saying how much they like him, too, and another 65 people who posted smiley faces. It was a spontaneous outpouring of positive feelings for a man who seems to have put a smile on the face of just about everyone who’s ever walked into the Point Dume Post Office.
Although most residents of western Malibu and Point Dume know who Robert is, many didn’t know much about his life and were interested in finding out more about it. The Malibu Times caught up with Robert in a phone interview over the weekend.
Moreno will have worked for the post office for 32 years as of next January. He spent most of that time at the old main post office in Malibu; when it closed about seven years ago, he and the rest of those employees moved to the Point Dume post office. He’s mostly worked as a distribution clerk and a window services clerk and knows hundreds of customers by their names.
“I know their kids, and I know their kids’ kids,” he laughed. “I see them on a daily basis.”
For decades, Moreno has been commuting to Malibu all the way from the Westminster/Huntington Beach area of Orange County, which is where he grew up.
“It’s exactly 70 miles, and if I leave by about 4:30 a.m., I can make it here in 90 minutes,” he explained. “If I leave any later than that, it takes me three hours to get here because of traffic. A lot of my time is spent on the freeway.”
The early commute usually puts Robert in Malibu nearly two hours before his shift. Does he sleep or listen to music? No, he sits in his car coordinating two other businesses he has.
“Before I clock in, I try to meet all the needs of my customers during that time,” he said. One business is a house-cleaning business with several employees. The other business, which consists only of Robert and a business partner, is a machine shop specializing in injection molding and parts manufacturing.
After he gets off work from the post office, does he drive straight home? “No,” he says. “In the evenings, I go to the shop until 11 p.m. to get our production out.”
Up until about seven years ago, Moreno had yet a third moonlighting job, as a reserve captain for the Orange County Fire Department, where he specialized in helicopter operations, like getting a fuel truck or crew to a helicopter and managing a helicopter base. He did that for 17 years.
Moreno has been married to Sharon for 34 years and they have two children, plus they adopted his little brother. His daughter served in the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division with several tours to Afghanistan for four years and now works for them as a contractor. His son is an LA County firefighter stationed near Pasadena.
When asked how he stays so cheerful and positive at the post office all the time, Robert said, “I’ve seen a lot of people in their last moments (working with the fire department) that won’t make it until tomorrow. I realize we woke up this morning, and the person who didn’t make it yesterday doesn’t have that opportunity.”
In addition, Sharon has been fighting an illness for the past seven years, and Robert said, “I woke up this morning next to my wife, and I know I have another day with her. What can be bad?”
He also tries to dispel misconceptions people have about the post office. “There’s a misconception that everybody is evil at the post office,” he laughed. “People have the idea that if a package was lost or stolen, it was the postal employees’ fault. Some people bring an attitude to the post office, and it’s hard to help them.”
And all the positive feelings that postal customers have for Moreno go both ways. “Malibu is really special and the people are very kindhearted,” he observed. “I’ve been so overwhelmed with all the people who treat me so well, it’s easy to be nice.”
Through an online fundraiser, neighbors raised $2,350 for Moreno after hearing of his wife’s sickness.
According to Michael Kory, Sharon “has been suffering from a rare cerebellum degeneration which severely limits her motor skills and impairs her speech. In keeping with his remarkable character, he and Sharon have decided to donate the funds we raised to an organization to help combat this condition.”
Moreno is going to be scaling back his time at the post office in order to take care of his wife, and is also considering retirement options.
SELECTED COMMENTS ON NEXTDOOR ABOUT ROBERT MORENO
“Robert is the best—not only does he love my family and always asks how everyone is, we look forward to seeing him and we love him, too. Robert is the best representative of the postal system!”
“Robert always restores my faith in the basic goodness of humankind.”
“If we had a walk of fame, his star would be on it! Truly a good person.”
“Robert is such an amazing human being. I brought my children with me to the post office the other day. On our way out my son said to me, ‘Mom, that is one of the nicest people I’ve ever seen.’”
“One of my favorite humans. He always takes notice when I’m sending my kids packages at college and says the nicest things; and shared about both our daughters being military. I’ve been so moved by his kindness, I felt compelled to take him a box of See’s candy and tell him just how much I appreciate his kind nature.”
“It’s pretty clear that Robert’s friendly demeanor and never-flagging spirit has been making a positive impact a lot of folks around here on a regular basis for many years.”
“We all love and respect him for what he is doing here at the Post Office and how wonderful a husband he has been to help his wife with her illness – not many men would be doing all this and working also. He is one grateful human being. I have a lot of respect for Robert – he’s No. 1 for me.”
“His cheerfulness, kindness and positive energy are remarkable in a world where civility seems to be waning.”