OBSERVATIONS FROM A WINE SLINGER

The valley is teeming with visitors, and although we all appreciated a quiet break last year, lounging in our grungiest finest, it is time to get back to what we do best, creating life-long exceptional memories for the people responsible for our paychecks. For those of you still riding the unemployment wave, I get you. The ability to pay bills and not have to clock in and out five to six days a week is a dream. Some of you are using time wisely, developing new paths for your future while giving back to the community. Kudos to you! For those of you who are spinning your pandemic wheels and waiting until your benefits run out, come back to the workforce. We need you, and the tourists are feeling extra tipsy as well as being so appreciative that the valley is open and ready to receive them with all our gifts, from culinary to wine tasting to enjoying seeing something other than the rooms in their homes. We all have an opportunity to elevate our services and keep this economy humming. It is a perfect time to reinvent ourselves, find a new career, a better place to work, and have fun doing it. There are a ton of job listings from hotels, restaurants, wineries, and retail shops. Think about all the businesses that had to close or are having trouble reopening because they cannot find qualified staff members. Flippin’ sad. The time is now to change the momentum for the better. Let’s all make Napa Valley the best it can be and keep playing that funky music until we die.