The year was 1985. Coca-Cola released New Coke. Back To The Future was the highest grossing film of the year. Wreckage from the Titanic was discovered. Microsoft released the first version of Windows. And our most tenured crewmember, Alan Lehman began working at Pagliacci.

When Alan first submitted his application to become a dishwasher at the Broadway Pizzeria, he never realized Pagliacci was a place he’d call home for a quarter of a century. After spending 11 years at the Capitol Hill location, he transferred over to the Commissary and has a hand in consistently creating a key component to everyone’s Pagliacci experience – the dough. Alan’s mild manner and humble smile are a staple at the Commissary and our dough making operation.

So what do you get a guy to celebrate such an amazing milestone? We surprised Alan with a MacBook and printer along with a plaque and cake. His new tools will come in handy to keep up his passion for creating art, photography and music. We expect he’ll only break long enough to keep up with all of the Seattle sports teams – M’s, Storm, Hawks and Huskies. Congratulations Alan!

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Everyone knows that our delivery drivers are some of Seattle’s finest navigators, with detailed knowledge of the highways, byways and sideways between your place and our place. But did you know that they also check up on the rest of us to make sure everything is right with your order? We ask all of our drivers to take responsibility for every order they deliver, from checking the size and toppings on your pie to making sure your salad has light salami with dressing on the side.

“Sure” you’re thinking, “That’s like asking a GPS to proofread my term paper.” Well, we submit Abbas Hayek, who delivers out of the 85th Street location in Ballard, to prove that there is more to our drivers than just an encyclopedic knowledge of our city streets.

Abbas holds the current record, having made his last 14,522 deliveries without a single error (more by the time you read this!). What does this nearly unbelievable feat mean to Abbas? It means he gets to hold the coveted Driver Trophy, which is the highest honor any Pagliacci Pizza driver can achieve. It means his name is added to the list of the best and brightest, written in gold on the trophy and preserved for all eternity. It means that he continues to embody perfection, shining as a beacon of what is possible to the rest of us satisfied with mere excellence.

Abbas’ own words when I handed the trophy to him probably sum it up best. “This is the proudest and happiest day of my life,” he said. There was a long pause as he looked thoughtful. “Except for the birth of my children” he eventually added.

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By Jason Cheung, University Pizzeria General Manager

On January 9^th, Pam Parks, a treasured member of the Pagliacci Family, passed away.  Pam started here at the University Pizzeria on December 1^st, 1981 as part of the University of Washington’s Job training program for people with disabilities, and while she was here she was named the 1992 Washington State Restaurant Association Worker of the Year.

I vividly remember the first time I met Pam. I had just been promoted to General Manager of the University Pizzeria, leaving behind a crew that I had grown to love while training at our Queen Anne Pizzeria. I met Derrick Aiona, my District Manager here at the shop to get the keys to “my” new store, and while he was showing me around, Pam came to the front door and gave the 3 little knocks that she always gave to let me know that she was there. I let her in and Derrick introduced us. Right away I took a liking to her, (how could you not?) and her eternally sunny attitude was a godsend that first year as I adjusted to “being the boss”. She took great delight in reminding me to turn on the ovens after one terrible week when we forgot to turn them on….twice.

It got better when she met my then girlfriend (and now wife), Amber. Every day after that,  Pam would ask how she was doing, and on Wednesday, when the flowers were changed for the coming week she always kept one and asked that I take it home to Amber.  I thought that she was just doing it for me, but I found out at her service that she did the same for Jeff Woodruff, our Director of Operations, who briefly worked here. We had a good laugh about that!

I’ll also always think about how much Pam loved children. She always made a point of going over and saying hi to them when they came in. After she retired I took my son to visit her and she could hardly take her eyes off of him.  She loved seeing him and gave him a bracelet before we left.

Even now, occasionally people will come in and ask about the “little girl” that used to work here. I am sure that they would be shocked to know that she was in her 40’s when I worked with her, as she certainly did not look like it! I’m proud to tell them that I used to work with her and that she had a long, satisfying tenure here.  Without fail, they always comment about how happy she looked and that she had such a great, smiling attitude.

Rest in Peace, Pam. You are missed.

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We are always supportive of our talented crew in their artistic, athletic and intellectual pursuits, whatever they may be. One of our employees who has worked for the corporate office for over 14 years in accounting has impressed us with her zeal for writing. Erna Mueller won the 2009 Good Read competition by A Woman’s Write with her outstanding entry, How to Find Your Inner Dog.

In the story, stubborn, tough-guy cop Spencer Watley bites the dust only to find himself stuck outside the gates of heaven. Spencer is given a second chance to redeem his callous existence as a human, but this time he’ll have to be a K-9 partner to a young, strong-willed teenager named Justin. Spencer’s job is to help Justin learn to love and trust adults, but it’s not easy. They also have to stand up to the killers and cyber hackers threatening to take advantage of innocent citizens.

In the beginning of this book’s development Erna had indented for it to be a screenplay ― the screenplay won an award from the Hollywood International Film Festival and was also given award recognition from the Hollywood Script Writing Institute. How to Find Your Inner Dog is Erna’s first completed work after ten years of late night writing sessions and many competition submissions. This triumph gets her one step closer to landing a great publishing deal.

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