6,817 Days
As the lights finally go off on my time with Marriott, I sit back and reflect. I certainly didn't expect it to necessarily end like this, but it is over. After 18 years, 7 months and 28 days, it is time for my Marriott "jersey" to be hung from the rafters.
From the Washington Marriott at the edge of Dupont Circle and Georgetown, to Los Angeles, California, the ride has been a wild one. I have met some of my best friends in life working for Marriott and I have met some people I would never ever want to see again. I have had some amazing bosses (looking at you Joe Brown) and had some bosses where I still wonder how did they get to the positions they were in (Larry and a few others ...) . I have seen the company go from a family company that truly practiced treating the associates well so they would exceed the guests expectations to one that is more worried about the process than the people. Amazing metamorphosis if you ask me. I was part of the Marriott family through two recessions, a terrible American tragedy and numerous other moments in history.
To commemorate my time with Marriott ending, I will review some of my personal highlights of my career:
- Working at the front desk at the Washington Marriott, my dad came by to see me at work. The first time he had seen me there. He waited patiently and the came up to the front desk. I introduced him to my peeps I was working with (Simone, Valerie and maybe Rhonda) and it was just cool. A simple moment, but it made an impression.
- I was working at corporate HQ and went to the cafeteria to eat lunch. Sat down by myself to eat real quick and who do I see? Mr. Marriott sitting all alone reading the paper and eating his lunch. How cool
- Working the Olympics in Atlanta. Howard has me arriving at work at 6:30 AM and handing a cash safe that had $250K in it that I had to balance every day. I remember Keith Sweat and Kut Close singing every day down in there. At least I got radio reception. Poor Marsha was good with that money too.
- I drove from Atlanta to Chicago to begin working at the Courtyard Wood Dale. I left Atlanta in shorts and a t-shirt. By the time I got to Chicago, I needed my coat, pants, hat and gloves. It snowed eight inches a week later.
- Chicago was an amazing time. Toughest physical job I ever had with Marriott. But amazing people. Ginger, Nancy, Heather, Haydee and Camille. Still very close to many of these people. Chicago remains my #1 stop on my journey across the country.
- The highlight of Dallas was being one of the youngest GM's ever at age 23. Living in Dallas was tough time for me. Simple as that.
- Living and working in Miami was so much fun and so cool. An underrated city but we rocked it. Doing sales at the Biscayne Bay Marriott was my favorite job in Marriott. We had a beautiful hotel and a beautiful city to sell with a bad ass team. Joe Brown, Eric, Bertha, Ana, Phillip (my car pool buddy) and Mr. Romero. Sometimes I look back at my time in Miami and wonder how life would have been different if I had stayed down there. But I was meant to move back to DC so no worries ... The going away collage you all made me was so dope. Best going away gift ever!
- I moved back to DC on August 20, 2001. 22 days before 9/11. I was living and working at the Crystal Gateway Marriott when 9/11 happened. Four blocks from the Pentagon. I can still smell the smoke from the Pentagon crash. Very surreal. That was a sad time to be there but we persevered. I met KG and MBA there and we stayed very good friends. We had so much fun working there and making fun of all our peeps. (Colonel Vanilla and Baby Huey).
- Golden Circle in Hawaii was amazing. My brother came with and we had such a good time. He liked it so much, he moved there a few years later.
- From there it was the Bethesda Marriott. I grew up so close to this hotel, but had never been inside until I began to work here. I remember some painful renovations , hurricanes, tour and travel groups and working with a bunch of women and only me. I also remember two things ... Friday lunches were we would just talk and relax for an hour. I was never able to recreate this atmosphere at another hotel. Didn't know what we had until it was gone. The second thing I remember is going through my father's death while I was there. My brother sent me an IM, I told Kristen I would be right back. Then my life changed forever. I remember at the service and like 20 people from the hotel came to support. Such a genuinely nice gesture. I was so touched. I am still touched by that.
- Moving out to Los Angeles. The toughest move of my life but the people I met inside of Marriott here in LA have made it one of the best moves of my life. The Montura peeps, the crew at Marina del Rey and then our SFO team. Too bad we couldn't spend as much time with you as we would have liked to after launch.
And with that it is all over. Like MJ said, I am 99.9% sure I won't return. Time to spread my wings and keep it moving ...
6,817 days later ...
