Wednesday September 19, 2012

Any business open for 100 years is bound to have its share of longtime employees, and The Williams Inn is no exception.

Lynn Armstrong is an employee who's worked at the inn for 22 years, in the kitchen, hostessing and finally, at the front desk. Her mother and children are also former employees, making theirs a third-generation Williams Inn family.

Armstrong said the inn and its patrons "end up being like a family."

"You see people during holidays and following the good and bad of their lives -- both weddings and funerals," Armstrong said. "People are married then they're back for a baby shower. You see their kids grow and end up in college. ... It's a people-based business and a nice place to work."

With its the revolving door of patrons, Armstrong said the job is kept fresh because one "never knows what they're going to see" on a given day. She personally enjoys visits from local youth and high school sports teams, the Wil liamstown Chamber of Com merce, the local business community and others.

Armstrong's cousin Alicia, one of the inn's managers, has worked there even longer, now in her 32nd year as an employee.

Alicia's been an employee long enough to remember "modern technology" changing the way the business functioned.

"I've seen it all from beginning to end, in that regard," she said. "We used to sit at the front desk with a stack of reservations [inches high] and do them all by hand. Now

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there's the computers and the hotel programs."

Alicia said she's worked in "pretty much every department" over the years. She re calls a funny memory from her 30th birthday, when inn owner Carl Faulkner's son moved the entire contents of her office and desk from the inn to her front lawn.

"I said ‘Now what are you going to do? That stuff all needs to go back.' "

Stephanie Schneski, bartender for five-and-a-half years, called The Williams Inn a "great place to meet people" of "all walks of life."

"The warmth here gives it this old-time, homey feel," Schneski said. "It's not the hustle and bustle of a city inn, it's more family and holiday oriented. I love the fireplace."

-- Phil Demers