Staff Member of the week

24 Oct , 2014 Uncategorized

Staff Member of the Week is back again after some time in silence and our first star to wear the crown is our Operations Manager Alex!
Alex has only been with us for a couple of months but he never fail to impress us with all his knowledge about everything between heaven and earth, on top of that he is also an excellent manager who always work extra hard to keep the hostel run smooth as silk.
As we do for everyone who gets named Staff Member of the Week we had some questions for Alex about himself and life at the hostel.

Where are you from and why did you decide to come to London?
I’m from Birmingham – it’s the UK’s second city.
I wanted to come somewhere bigger and with more going on, so, short of emigrating, I didn’t have much choice. 😉
I quit my old desk job which I hadn’t been enjoying and decided to take up an exciting offer from The Dictionary to become the Operations Manager and I haven’t looked back since!

Which part of the hostel do you work in?
Operations – helping to make sure the hostel runs smoothly day-to-day

Best thing about life in the hostel?
The people are great fun and kind and I feel we achieve a good work-life balance. It’s full of people from all over the world which I really enjoy too as I love to travel and am a bit of a languages nerd.

What do you want to be when you grow up?
Who said it’s necessary to grow up?

Favourite way to spend a tenner?
Trip to the cinema. But I’m not sure that I’ll get much change from a tenner for a cinema ticket in London!

Oh nooooo! You just found out you have 1 more year to live! What’s the top 3 on your bucket list?

1) Make a trip to Iceland to see the Northern Lights and swim in the Blue Lagoon.
2) Persuade my friends to quit their jobs (I’ll leave them something in my will…) and hop on a train somewhere in Eastern Europe, eventually working our way across Russia with the Trans-Siberian Railway.
3) Spend some time chilling out with family by the seaside in Cornwall.

Must do while staying in East London?
I’m really into anything that involves eating, so I love the pop-up street food venue at 186 Shoreditch High Street. You can get some great food down there!

If you were to create a drink, what would you put in it and what would it be called?
If I’d created a drink that was worth drinking, I think I’d be rich and famous by now. I love this drink from Portugal called a ‘morangoska’ though. It’s vodka blended with fresh strawberries, crushed ice and sugar. One of your 5-a-day, no?

What song goes on repeat in you Ipod?
Amy Winehouse’s whole Back To Black album is always on repeat.

Favourite word in the dictionary and why?
The English language has got so many great words! I like the ones that roll off your tongue, like ‘rambunctious’ or ‘conundrum’ or ‘soliloquy’. If I’m allowed to hyphenate, then ‘fry-up’ is also a good one, but I don’t think it needs explaining.

Thank you Alex for being so awesome! Lots of love!
// The Dictionary Crew