The Looking Glass Blog

Bell Captain: Dale Rush

Greetings to you! My name is Dale, and I’m the Bell captain for Hotel Murano. I recently celebrated my 63rd year on the planet, with 39 of those years enjoying Tacoma, Washington.

Here’s my story.

Fresh out of college with my Doctor of Chiropractic degree, I drove to Tacoma where I my met my wife (now of 38 years) Gail. I chose a busy corner, hung the sign, and began “adjusting the vertebrae” to relieve the kinks and the “Oh Gosh, I hurt” issues for a ton of folks who remain friends and family many years later. At the same time, Gail and I started a family that includes daughter Pam, a Tacoma police officer the past 10 years and son Bryan, a CPA in Bellevue, Washington.

A discontent of sorts set in after 15 years of serving “pain and suffering” and so I moved in a whole new direction. Sold the practice, closed the office, and started over.

First was the Bottled Water chapter. I started a business delivering fresh water to offices. That was a great ride for seven or eight years, and I met many wonderful families and friends who remain in my life. Soon, though, Tacoma was discovered by many other water companies, who offered my services for half the price and I graduated again.

After that, a short seven-year stint with a local manufacturer doing sales. Fun, yet not
hitting the bulls eye !

Then comes the best part. I entered the lobby of Hotel Murano (it was the Tacoma Sheraton at the time), found a dear friend who worked here and announced “the bellstand is mine!” They took me to Human Resources, handed me my name pin, uniform, handbook etc. and now 5 years later this past July 08, the joy remains!

I now serve as Bell Captain, which brings a daily dose of fun, plus some paper shuffling, parking some awesome automobiles, sweeping the curb, opening the huge front doors with a big smile, creating memories and generally having the time of my life. Creating a welcoming experience for total strangers to Tacoma is priceless.

Now that you’ve heard my story, I’d like to hear yours. So program that GPS system for Tacoma and come visit us soon—-I can’t wait to meet you!