My Interview with Alex

I met with my project partner, Alex, tonight at Starbucks. It was fairly busy, but we were still able to talk. We discussed our parents’ careers, their political beliefs, our careers, how our parents affected our political beliefs and a few random things about ourselves. I learned that Alex's political views are split. For social issues (such as gay marriage and abortion) he is very liberal. However, for other political matters he is pretty conservative.

 Next we talked about our jobs. My jobs haven all been pretty un-union related: babysitting, coaching gymnastics, and working through the University Dining Services. Alex works at his parent’s restaurant. The restaurant is called Stephano's and is one of the best known family-owned restaurants in the area. His parents took a risk, got a loan, and bought a little piece of property. Now, twenty years later, their little piece of property has transformed into a restaurant and lounge with two bars a banquet area and its own catering service. Alex even mentioned that Stephano's is one of former governor Tim Pawlenty's favorite places to eat. Working in this restaurant has been Alex's only job, and he has learned a lot about the workforce through it. He has learned how people are employed and how they are fired, he has learned about payroll, and how hard it is for managers to earn their employees trust. Along with all of this, he has learned how important it is to have a strong work ethic.

Alex's dad came to Minnesota from Bologna, Italy in 1983. Here he met Alex's mother, an accounting graduate from University of Minnesota, Mankato. Both of their political views are pretty conservative, however, Alex is unsure of their feelings toward unions. Many of their values about the workforce are conservative.

Because of Alex's history with family owned businesses, he isn't a big fan of large corporations. He supports family owned businesses and their values. He does not have a strong opinion toward unions in general, and so he is very open to persuasion.

All in all, I’d say our meeting at Starbucks was pretty successful. We learned about each other’s family histories and how they’ve impacted our views about the government, our values, and ultimately how they’ve

shaped our opinions about the workforce.