Working in the Metropolitan Mecca of Hotels in Seattle

Okay the title is a bit more grandiose than what it precedes but it sounded fun. :) So I work at the 4th and Seneca Starbucks in downtown Seattle. (come visit me!) Which happens to be right across from the W hotel, and next to Hotel Monaco as well as about a billion other hotels. Oh yeah and we share the building with the FBI... there is a group of guys that come in and are pretty funny and nice. Crazy. So because of mainly Hotel Monaco, and the W, we get a ton of celebs that come into our Starbucks apparently. I served Ben Stein and his ladyfriend a few nights ago. Ben Stein got a Grande Refresh tea with two honeys and room, and his ladyfriend got a quad Grande Americano with room. I guess Mr. Stein does a lot of talks at UW as well as other universities around the US involving politics and whatnot. ;)

So yeah, I guess it'll soon beat out my previous daily encounters of Ryan Stiles up in B-ham. Though he seemed like more of the average guy than these big wigs that are all suited up in Seattle. Definitely a different dynamic than what I am used to. But it's really fun and interesting. And the customers are all pretty nice for the most part. It seems like other partners there must focus on the few mean ones and thus, they think that our average customer base is full of jackasses which seems to be far from the case. Time to get these people to see the real story I think.

Meanwhile, I am working with a group of pretty much 70% or more of new people to the store that I work at. Most of them are transfers so there isn't really a bunch of training going on which is nice, but we are all learning where things are, how things can run best. My manager has only been at this store for about 6months herself, and from the time she came in to the time I got there, there was a massive turnover (for the best). Apparently we lost a lot of people that were often really rude, and just really not meant for any sort of job involving the public haha. So I am currently part of a whole new team that is drafting up ways to make this store run like a finely tuned instrument. And that is the best situation I could possibly have as far as wanting to promote with the company. Right now, our store is pretty rocky and far from its best form as far as business and customer satisfaction in general goes. But within the last 3 weeks, we went from a constant downsloap on the afore mentioned subjects, to a steady upsloap. Which is a good feeling for me seeing as how I've worked there for probably 4 weeks now. :) It's a good feeling to know we all have the same goals, and that we are all open to suggestions, taking things from past experiences with past Starbucks we have worked for as well as fresh new Ideas and seeing where it takes us.

I am excited to be working where I work, and I love living where I live. Honestly, I am really just loving life right now! I have gotten to see Katrina the last several weekends in a row which is always a great thing, and because of that, I have been thrown into some social situations with new people, and have gained some new friends here in Seattle already! The people I work with are equally awesome in the fact that they very openly invite me out to go do Karaoke, and hang out. We are going to start a rock climbing group for our store because I guess a bunch of people were wanting to go, and they found out that I not only climb, but I can teach them everything. So we are going to form sortof a team/group thing, and get a little funding from starbucks so we can afford it as a regular thing, and do some team building and muscle building! WOO! Okay I could go on and on, but I have been hanging around this Starbucks for too long (a few blocks from my home) and I feel kindof lame hah. I wish I had internets at home, but it's free here! Ciao for now!