We could all use a Sandy Alspaugh in the workplace.
Someone who laughs and jokes. Someone you can count on being there literally every day. Someone who’ll do any task asked of her — and maybe even belt out a tune while she’s doing it.
And, someone who sticks with you for 50 years. And doesn’t plan on slowing down yet.
This is Sandy’s 50th year at French Lick Resort, and you may have never noticed her because she accomplishes most of her work behind the scenes. But everyone needs those unsung stars. And Sandy is one of ours.
“She’s a lot of fun, she laughs, she’s always happy. Always happy. She likes to joke around, she’s a character, that’s for sure,” says her manager, Mike Underhill (who’s been here 45 years himself). “She likes her job very much, and she will help do anything we need help with — she’ll wash dishes, she’ll help on the food line — whatever we need done, she does it.”
Sandy started at the resort working on the dish line. That was in 1972. For a little perspective, in 1972 French Lick Springs Hotel was a Sheraton property, and those were the days there was still a pool on the front lawn. (And who could forget about the domed pool, too?) Across town, West Baden Springs Hotel wasn’t even a hotel, but instead being used by the students and staff of Northwood Institute.
Over the course of five decades, Sandy has witnessed more changes around the resort than you could count. Maybe nothing was as dramatic as seeing French Lick Springs Hotel fill up practically overnight following the restoration in 2006.
“Happened all at once,” she recalls with a smile. “I liked that.”
When you commemorate 50 years on the job, you celebrate with both cake and cupcakes.
She’s got a huge family away from the resort – 4 daughters, 1 son, 6 sisters, 3 brothers – and at home, her husband does most of the cooking. But around the resort, she’s been the provider for thousands upon thousands of guests and associates.
If you ever ate the seafood buffet at French Lick Springs Hotel, chances are good Sandy was the one who filled it with all the shrimp and oysters and crab legs. Nowadays in a typical workday, you could find Sandy refilling the breakfast buffet at The Grand Colonnade Restaurant, stocking the salad bar and running the cash register in the dining room, washing dishes and cleaning tables.
All in a day’s work.
“Been everywhere,” she says.
Sandy rarely misses a day, either, with several years of perfect attendance to her credit. She’s got a hip that sometimes doesn’t cooperate, but that’s not stopping her from thinking 51 years … 52 years ….
“I think I’m better keeping going,” Sandy says. “It might be a couple years or it might be more.”
So she’ll keep going with all her Sandy-isms, whether it’s a greeting in the dining room (“Hey bud! How are you today?) or spontaneously breaking into song while she’s working (some people say they can hear her down the hall).
Just as she’s put smiles on the faces of thousands of coworkers and guests, those connections keep her coming back. Day after day, 50 years strong.
“It’s the people. I like to work with people,” Sandy says. “That’s what keeps me going.”
Thank you, Sandy, for 50 years of
dedicated service and your
unwavering enthusiasm!
