My Daily Struggle

As most of you know, I buy my morning coffee at my Alma Mater, the Seattle Westin Hotel. They make a nice mocha, and the price is right (only $3.06! which is damn good for a hotel)

But here’s the thing of it: Not only is their coffee stand located in their coffee shop (which, as I always point out, used to be a fun bar) the whole thing was converted on the cheap, and it shows.

For starters, it’s sort of a modified cafeteria setup. You can either go through the cafeteria line, or you can order table service, but you still have to go through the line to do that, after which they will bring your food to the table. Since the Westin’s primary guests are business travelers and old people, this creates what we referred to in my day as a clusterfuck. Write this on a rock, darlings: OLD PEOPLE AND BUFFETS DO NOT MIX! The old people may think they like them (although most of them don’t. They just think they’re getting more for their money) but they still don’t mix. For one thing, old people drop things – usually on the business travelers, who have on high fashion work outfits, and don’t take kindly to that. For another thing, old people like to dilly-dally, contemplate their food choices, and squint at the menu board for hours before finally ordering a drip coffee. This also drives the time-conscious business traveler (Who usually just wants a coffee and a muffin, or perhaps some oatmeal) nuts.

A lot of this problem could be easily addressed by hiring a hostess and making the people who bring out the food also take the order, and present the bill (It’s a new thing called waiters. They’re all the rage in San Francisco). That would, however, involve investing in a few more units of Human Resource (i.e. people), and GOD KNOWS a hotel with almost 1000 rooms, with a 70% occupancy rate, fetching an average $250/night certainly can’t be expected to invest in low-paying jobs that make their guests more comfortable. That would be as unrealistic as thinking you could do a cheap-o makeover of an old cocktail lounge and operate it as a coffee shop! Oh wait…..never mind.

So think of me, dear readers, in the midst of the fray, just trying to get my morning caffeine, while dodging the seniors and the angry business people. Trying to make my way in a post-luxury hotel.