Published May 2003

Come join us for entertainment, dining, fun

We have been preparing for the opening of our new Tulalip Casino for two years, ever since construction began in April 2001. The trees were cleared, the land was prepared and more roads and utilities and other infrastructure in Quil Ceda Village were installed to serve the casino.

Steel girders rose, walls were built, parking areas were paved, lighting and landscaping were added and the interior rooms began filling with electronic video games, giant sculptures, kitchen and bakery equipment and special lighting and artwork.

But those are not the most important events in the building of this casino. And even though the games and artwork will get the most attention, those are not the most important sights our guests will see in this giant new casino.

Our people take the honors for being the most important sights guests will see, and our training programs for preparing our team for their roles of service are really the most important events in the history of this casino.

No, that’s not an exaggeration. What if someone built a marvelous casino that everyone wanted to see and the service and treatment they received from the staff was thoughtless, discourteous or appeared disinterested? If people don’t feel welcome and enjoy their entertainment and dining they’ll stop coming, and they’ll discourage others from coming.

That would spell disaster for any business. That’s why I say, without hesitation, that our team of servers, dealers, cashiers, managers and cooks are the secret to our past successes and will be the reason for our future successes with this grand casino.

We now have 971 people on our casino team, including 414 Native Americans and 59 non-Native spouses or parents. We’ll soon grow that number to 1,400 team members.

By the way, we feel “team members” creates a more accurate and energizing mental image than just being called employees. We count on each one of those people like they’re members of our team and we want them to know that. We also want you — our guests — to know that. It’ll help you understand their energy and dedicated service to you.

We’ve always emphasized teamwork and profession service and appearance for our people but during the past two years we’ve also conducted training and management meetings to help them in their present roles and also to prepare them for future leadership at the casino.

Today’s executive staff wants our younger team members to learn how to manage a multimillion-dollar business, because we know many of them will be our future management team.

Also, 60 of our present managers also received 16 months of training in topics varying from motivation and finance to human relations. Those managers were honored with a dinner and awards at their graduation, April 25.

In December 1999, we created the STARS program — open to all of our team members — to provide extra training on guest services and develop pride in being a part of the Tulalip “All Star” Team.

Over the years that I have been Chief Operations Officer at the Tulalip Casino I have observed many times how much our managers and other team members have grown in their job skills and personal development.

That’s what we want for all of our team members. What they learn at the casino will help them professionally and personally all of their lives. Their work opportunities are much more than simply jobs, and their performances are much more than just fulfilling the role of an employee.

So come visit us, often. We hope you enjoy the entertainment we have prepared for you — the games, the lights, the meals and the socializing. But we hope you also enjoy our hospitality team, the people who train and work hard to make your good times here possible.

Chuck James
Chief Operating Officer

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