Great article on Rick Steves in Seattle Times

Here's the link RS and his company

Thank you for posting this. It's very interesting AND travel related!

Great article! Thanks for posting, Tammy; and thank you, Stan, for the link.

Fantastic article. Thank you for sharing. He certainly walks the walk, doesn’t he.

What a lovely human-interest story from my home newspaper! Nice to catch up. ;)
Thanks for sharing Tammy!

That was a good article.

Thanks for sharing, a lovely article.

I wish all business owners operated like Rick Steves.

Terrific article. I echo the sentiments that more business owners could operate this way.

I think this quote was quite telling

Steves hopes to have a little bit of a fall season, but has resigned himself to a complete cancellation of tours in 2020. He’s refunding customers two months out, which means July is next —

This actually brought tears to my eyes.
Thanks, Tammy, for sharing this.
And thanks Rick.

Thanks for posting, and thanks Rick. We will tour again!

Really enjoyed this article! It reaffirmed my thoughts of the kind of person Rick Steves is. His intregrity is an example for us all!

Tammy,

That was a wonderful article about Rick! Thanks for sharing it. None of the things mentioned in the article were surprising. In the many years that I've followed Rick's travel advice, I've noticed that he's always had an interest in altruistic and philanthropic endeavors, and one example is his ongoing support for charities like Bread For The World. I really admire the way he's taking care of his staff, and it's unfortunate that more employers wouldn't follow the same example. I fervently hope that all of Rick's partners in Europe are able to survive these unprecedented times.

Bread for the World----

To me appears to be more of a lobbying organization than a charity

https://www.bread.org/about

Thank you for the original post and the link. I enjoyed the article and as someone else said, it just reinforces what I’ve always known about Rick Steves and his organization. He must be a wonderful and trustworthy employer. And he looks as happy as he can be given the circumstances!

Bread for the world is both a lobbying organization and a charity. It does not directly provide food to people, that is true. I would say that each person is free to support any organization they choose, and Rick has chosen this one for himself and promotes it to others.

Enjoyed the article, thanks for sharing and the link.

A friend emailed it to me and it confirmed what I already thought I knew about RS and his good heart ❤️. I will continue to travel with RS and hope the Sept. Poland tour is a go.

Rick, you are such a mensch.

Yes, wjm. That was the only response I could think of too after reading the article but wasn’t sure how to spell it.

For those unfamiliar, it is Yiddish, and I think specifically means human being, but generally is understood as an admirable, honest person of integrity.

Thanks for posting the link.

And Merriam-Webster agrees with Denny

Definition of mensch
: a person of integrity and honor

Good to know things are going well with Rick, as he looks out for his staff, and anticipates better times for his travel business, and for travel in general.

I was surprised that Rick hadn’t had dogs before - apparently even when raising his kids. Wonder if he’s a cat person, or fish, or parakeets? I figured he’d have had an animal around.

And with barbers being closed for a while, his hair’s longer than it had been for a while in TV shows and selfies on this Website. Not quite where he was 10 years ago, but his hair’s looking a bit more like it had been for so long.

And he’s a guy who’s spent so much time in Mediterranean places, where olive oil abounds. And yet people give him lots of it! Maybe all from within Europe while he’s there, maybe friends in Washington. But he didn’t know how to cook with it! Or, apparently, even just to dip bread in it. Glad he’s now cutting an onion or two now, and giving his oven a workout.

And his new girlfriend, Bishop Wee. If she accompanied him to Scotland, would people there consider her a Wee Lass?

Cyn, I don't think his usual lifestyle is conducive to having pets, unless he has a friend that will keep it for him when he travels. Our daughter moved back in with us after she finished college(yes she is employed) and we loved being able to leave the cats with her back in the good ole days of last year when we could still travel.

I agree, cala, that it’s tough on a person and pets to be away for months at a time. A trusted petsitter is essential. Rick’s such a compassionate person that I figured he’d have had some animal (maybe adopted from a shelter ?!?), at least while married to Anne, and/or with kids in the house. At least never a dog, as we’ve learned, until now!

...unfortunate that more employers wouldn't follow the same example.

As the cited article notes, Rick' company is privately held and Rick can run it without obligation to anyone but Rick as the owner. A for profit C Corporation, may be a person in the eyes of the Supreme Court, but has an obligation to make maximize profit for its shareholders. One can make an argument that being good to employees, customers and other stakeholders will maximize the C-Corps long term profit but some stockholders would object.

Cheers to Rick.