Samantha Ogle and her carpool friends look forward to 鈥淐alvin day.鈥� That鈥檚 the day that Calvin Swann is on the job at the 45th Street entrance to the University. As a traffic guide, it鈥檚 Swann鈥檚 job to check their U Passes and give them a carpool permit, but Ogle, a special events manager in the Business School, says he does more than that.
鈥淚t only takes a moment to help make someone feel good, and Calvin has the gift for doing that every morning,鈥� she says. 鈥淗e takes something routine and turns it into something special. It鈥檚 people like that who help you start the day off on a good note.鈥�
How does he do it? He always has a smile, Ogle says, and a thoughtful way of asking about his customers鈥� lives. 鈥淎 while ago I had crutches in the car and he asked me what had happened. Then after that, he鈥檇 always ask me how I was doing, was I recovering on schedule.鈥�
Ogle probably isn鈥檛 the only one who feels that way about Swann. He鈥檚 been a traffic guide for 10 years and has worked all eight of the University鈥檚 gates. And he says he knows the names of 鈥渢ons鈥� of people who come through those gates.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 what I find rewarding about the job,鈥� he says. 鈥淭o see a Down Syndrome child come through down at the hospital and know his name and his mother鈥檚 name and give them a smile. I always figure people could be having a rough day and I want to make them feel better.鈥�
Nor does Swann reserve his talents only for the regulars. He takes his job of greeting visitors equally seriously. 鈥淚 add a little more flair, a little more glitter and gold to the job of giving visitors smooth sailing,鈥� he says. 鈥淚鈥檓 probably the first one they will see. I try to introduce them, to welcome them to the University.鈥�
A native of San Mateo, Calif., Swann first came to Seattle in 1970. A football player like his better鈥搆nown younger brother Lynn, former Pittsburgh Steeler great, he was here to play a game.
鈥淚 saw this place and made a decision to either live here or in Denver,鈥� Swann says. Ironically it was the openness and lack of traffic (compared with California) that attracted him.
But the move didn鈥檛 happen right away. Swann spent time in Alaska before finally taking up residence here in the mid鈥�80s. By that time Seattle鈥檚 traffic problems were beginning to rival those of Swann鈥檚 native state, but he stayed anyway, working as a longshoreman and then as a manager of cabin service for Delta Airlines.
Swann had sort of grown up in the air travel business, with an uncle who worked for United Airlines. 鈥淏ut I saw airlines go from giving passengers silverware to passing out packages of peanuts,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 knew it was time to get out.鈥�
He began working at parking part鈥搕ime in 1990 and became a traffic guide three years later. 鈥淲hat I like about the job is the personal customer service I鈥檓 able to give to someone,鈥� Swann says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 uncontrolled; it鈥檚 natural; it鈥檚 the way my parents taught me to socialize and communicate with people.鈥�
When he isn鈥檛 on the job, Swann often does his communicating through food. He and his wife have perfected a recipe given to them by her father, which they鈥檝e dubbed the Donnaburger, after her. It鈥檚 a special blend of seasonings mixed in with raw hamburger and then barbecued. One of his dreams is to open a small burger joint to sell the product.
Meanwhile, he鈥檚 just starting to market another food product, a beef jerky that he calls Earthy Jerky. The recipe for that was acquired in Alaska, when Swann was out fishing. 鈥淚 met this man and I paid him to cut up my fish for me,鈥� he says. 鈥淏ut he said he would show me how to do it. And it was so much fun that I ended up doing the cutting, so he gave me this recipe.鈥�
The next time Swann went to Alaska, he learned that the man had died. 鈥淚 miss him, I thank him, and I know wherever he is up in jerky heaven he knows that I鈥檓 keeping the tradition real with his recipe.鈥�
Swann and a partner will be selling the jerky from a cart at the U.S. Olympic team trials next week in California.
鈥淭he thing about food 鈥� it doesn鈥檛 discriminate,鈥� Swann says. 鈥淲hen you put love in the food, no matter where you are, that person could be of any nationality or ethnic background, when you put good food on the table, they鈥檙e going to love it.鈥�
The same can probably be said for someone who is greeted with a smile at a traffic gate, something Swann has no plans to stop doing.
鈥淔ourteen years, 10 years on the gate, nothing has changed,鈥� he says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 always a God bless, how you doin鈥�? Whether it鈥檚 raining or not, that doesn鈥檛 make the day for me. I got a chance to see you, I got a chance to wake up this morning. And to me, that鈥檚 enough.鈥�