My bittersweet Seattle experience

[NW4me]

OP, if "the freeze is real" nowadays, wouldn't it have also been real in the pre-boom era,
before so many people poured in from other places? If you noticed it in recent years,
didn't you also have notice it back in the day?

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by NW4me

OP, if "the freeze is real" nowadays, wouldn't it have also been real in the pre-boom era,
before so many people poured in from other places? If you noticed it in recent years,
didn't you also have notice it back in the day?

This is a good question.

I think the OP was in shock about encountering it in the workplace from.....everyone. And it sounds like he wasn't in Seattle long enough to take the usual route of joining groups, activities, whatever, to meet people with similar interests. Suburban living in the greater Seattle area is more conducive to that. Everyone says, the northern, southern and eastern suburbs are friendlier. I've found that to be true, to some extent.

[pete98146]

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

Everyone says, the northern, southern and eastern suburbs are friendlier. I've found that to be true, to some extent.

Certainly some element of truth to this ^^

[Chilkoot]

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

This is the message I got from the OP's narrative. OP, you need to chalk a lot of the problem up to Covid. Still, that doesn't excuse or relate to the cool reception you got on arrival at your new employer. And the choice to live downtown at the worst possible time didn't help. If you'd gotten a place in Edmonds, say, your experience and perspective would have been very different.

I'm wondering: how did your kids do, living in DT, which definitely had its rough side, perhaps being at the peak of its rough side, at the time?

We don’t have children but that brings up a good point. I grew up very rural and was never exposed to these issues. Hopefully the DT children will be sensitive and have some good parenting so they don’t get jaded views.

[yaya97]

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

This is the message I got from the OP's narrative. OP, you need to chalk a lot of the problem up to Covid. Still, that doesn't excuse or relate to the cool reception you got on arrival at your new employer. And the choice to live downtown at the worst possible time didn't help. If you'd gotten a place in Edmonds, say, your experience and perspective would have been very different.

I'm wondering: how did your kids do, living in DT, which definitely had its rough side, perhaps being at the peak of its rough side, at the time?

Kids were fine and loved Seattle. School wise while we lived on bottom Lake Union, we were " attached" to Queen Anne school so not rough at all!

We love urban living so that was not the problem but I agree as many has mentioned, anything that could have gone wrong just did! Bad timing for sure!

[yaya97]

Originally Posted by Chilkoot

I can see why you were so disappointed in Seattle, particularly with your high expectations based on your previous experience. I would feel the same. I haven’t read this entire thread but you came back at the worst possible time. Things have improved and there is very little that is the same as 2020. I walked downtown from Belltown yesterday and there are certainly glimpses of issues but nothing like it was just a couple years ago.

This is great news! Seattle still has a very special part in my heart!

[uniquetraveler]

Downtown Seattle in June 2022


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZemEYYKtlg

Capitol Hill, June 2022


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ydWkeABzd8

[yaya97]

Originally Posted by uniquetraveler

Downtown Seattle in June 2022


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZemEYYKtlg

Capitol Hill, June 2022


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ydWkeABzd8

Thank you ! Looks beautiful!!!

[margaretBartle]

Originally Posted by yaya97

I don’t think so. The ambiance was cold on day one .Before Covid . From new hires to existing employees. I have been in my domain for 25 years and worked all over the US and elsewhere . First time I felt this.

[talking about the Seattle freeze]
I think it comes from the Boom-and-bust cycle that Seattle seems to have gone through more than most cities.
It was a boom town during the Alaskan Gold Rush, then it collapsed.

The it was a boom town during WWII, then collapsed in the early 70's, when the famous billboard went up:
https://sarabillups.substack.com/p/turnoutlights
Then it got rebuilt again with Starbucks, Microsoft and Amazon.
During the time that Boeing WAS the Seattle economy, (before Starbucks, Microsoft or Amazon, and before their move to Chicago) we called it "The Lazy B". Boeing preferred to keep workers on during slack times, rather than having to ramp up employment when a big order came through.

I worked as a temp worker at Boeing for a few months, and I had to laugh one day as I walked from the elevator to my desk, passing maybe 40 workstations, and not a single person was working! Every single person I saw was gossiping with their neighbor about their frozen pipes, where they got their hair done, their insurance payments. My coworker next to me was talking about going to Vegas to meet the daughter she gave up for adoption at birth. One married co-worker was flirting outrageously to another, who didn't know he was married (but I did).



These people shared very intimate details of their lives with each other.


I was a temp, and offered a crummy permanent position, which I refused, so I was given a pink slip. For the remaining two days of my contract, no one would talk to me, or even look at me.



Instant shut-down.


I think of what that does to the soul of a city , when all of a sudden, out of the clear blue sky, tens of thousands of workers (65,000 out of 105,000 workers) are laid off, and gone. No fare-well, no ceremony. You're just sudden a non-person.


After that happens, people just don't allow themselves to emotionally "hooked" into other people's lives. Enjoy the companionship, but don't care too deeply. It's a visceral reaction, like touching the element on an electric stove, once you've burned youself on one.


It's been a generation or two, and it probably has waned a bit. The Scandanavian heritage goes back even further, and I think it's still around.



I guess between the two, it will take some time to overcome that Seattle Freeze.