I have been obsessed with the hospitality I have received from my friends and my colleagues over the past few months. Everyone has been so welcoming and inviting and I am greatly appreciative of the kindness they have shown me. However, I am now starting to consider the inherent meaning behind such connections to friends and colleagues, including one particular example at my internship the other day.
The griffin. A symbol of majesty, power, and of course the JW Marriott Hotel brand. I was finally given my griffin pin, which all employees wear to signify their unity and kinship to the organization. It marks a type of union, an unspoken word of affinity. As employees, we only need see the beautiful silver griffin on our fellow colleagues’ lapels to distinguish guests from fellow workers and to understand the connection that our pin represents. Our griffins are also symbols of the amount of work that each and every JW Marriott employee does, day in and day out, for the benefit of our guests. Our elite brand of hotel has a unique symbol because we are a unique group of employees; there are very few brands that can compete with the JW Marriott in terms of the quality of service that our employees offer. We therefore wear a symbol of that higher caliber, and it means the world to us.
I was very grateful to receive my griffin, but there are more metaphorical symbols of friendship, connection, and empathy that I am also thankful for in and out of my professional life. For example, the care that my colleagues took to make sure that my family’s trip to visit me here was fun and relaxing, from calling their hotel to securing a friends and family rate for their stay (since they stayed at a Marriott hotel) was far too much. This symbol of friendship, the fact that my colleagues would go out of their way to help make sure my parents had an excellent stay in London, was so very important to me. Another example are all the invitations I’ve received to go out and experience London with my friends. From Windsor Castle to a local music festival, these gestures are symbolic of great friendship and very important to me as well. These connections are also symbolic of cherished relationships, relationships that can last a lifetime, and by which I am almost overwhelmed with joy.
It is important to take stock of important symbols, whether physical objects or meaningful connections, at certain times in your life. The symbols that hold importance in your life are worth taking account of, and if you do, you may come across more than you bargained for, just as I have.
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