OK, this comes from all of 8 days of "living" in SEA this month (so take it for what you paid for it), but this city lives under darkness- at least in the Wintertime. I'd set the alarm in my hotel room for 7AM. Alarm goes off, I look out thru the windows (slept with the curtains open), see pitch blackness and figure I'd misset my clock. Nope. Sun didn't start to hit over the horizon 'till nearly 7:45. By what?- 4:45, it was dark again. I'd heard rumors SEA was the suicide capital of the US; I can believe this.

... and the clouds? There was a section of blue sky one Thursday for about 15 mins and people were pointing and staring like they'd never seen it before. :D

Which explains why cities that are farther north, such as Paris, London, Brussels, Munich, Vienna... are known centers of mental illness. Oh. Wait...

Yup, it sucks here. You better go home before you kill yourself. :)

I am LOLing here big time because when it came out I literally ran outside and stood outside for about 10 minutes "soaking it up"! :D I didn't realize that a lot of people don't act this way when they see the sun ;)

The operative words are "...kept at Sea-Tac Airport..." which makes this official measurement a little, or a lot, misleading. The Puget Sound area bristles with microclimates, especially in the "convergence zone" between Seattle and Everett. It can be a genuinely rainy day for much of the population even though no precip is "officially" measured at the airport. And in the infamous El Nina winter of 1998-1999, when it definitely rained somewhere across the metro area each day for nearly 100 days and the KOMO weathermen covered themselves by predicting scattered showers every day for months, the "official" Sea-Tac measurements don't begin to tell the story. You can be soaked to the skin in Redmond while the Sea-Tac weather office denies it rained today.

Well, I live in the convergence zone (Woodinville), and I have never seen 93 or 90 or 60 or whatever the latest claim for consecutive days of rain in Seattle. At least not since 1986 when I moved here.

Wouldn’t it be easier to just post that you were mistaken about your facts?

I suppose I’m one of the “rude” posters that believe when something is stated as a fact it should be verified first. I don’t see how it helps the OP out to exaggerate negative aspects about the "facts".

Adapt
 

If you can't adapt, move like the complainers. There's a reason why Seattle is filled with outdoor enthusiasts. If your a homebody and not very social, you'll get depressed sitting in a dark house.

I had season football tickets, went skiing, and vacationed in warm spots during the winter months. Winters quickly gave way to the 16-hour summer days of camping and fishing in the mountains. It's amazing how life thrives above the 40th parallel.

Washington State 's most rainy days in a row: 55 at Centralia, November 1996-February 1997. source

The overly nice factor can be very annoying at times particularly when you are at a 4-way stop and someone thinks they are doing you a favor by letting you go first and holding everyone up and actually causing more delay.
From what I understand it is illegal to honk your horn in Washington State unless it is an emergency.
About the weather. I remember a time in the late 90's when it seemed to rain hard for over a week without ever stopping. I was constantly wet everytime single time I went in or out, day and night. (Remember that Seattlites DO NOT use umbrellas. Only business women in suits, couples in tuxedos/fancy dress and tourists use umbrellas)
The rain is not all that bad (however, this year is pretty bad) but it is difficult for people to transition from warm weather places. i.e. Cali, Arizona, Texas, the Southeast, etc. You really cannot ask for better weather in the summer and spring seems to come earlier every year. I think it has a lot to do with mentality. People I worked with in Southern California expect to play tennis everyday or go surfing in December. That's not happening here. In Seattle it does not get dark until just before 10 pm in the summer.
As far as the OP the Starbuck's location is not as exciting as downtown.

The surfing in WA (and BC) is at its best in December. You just can't do it in shorts though :eek:

Well, there you go. Thanks Wally Bird.

Either you adapt to this climate and you stay, or you don't. It's certainly not for everyone. Personally, I really like it. Makes summers seem all that much better. ^

Fine, I was wrong. I was trying to give the OP some reality check here. Seattle is obviously great which is why I've lived here for most of my adult life.

Not sure why you seem so hell-bent on pointing out that I may be wrong. Hopefully the OP received some information that he was looking for.

LOL...have you ever gone to Bartell's to pick something up? It seems like they kill you with kindness.

Very fake and plastic. I hated having to go to meetings at the offices. I wanted to vomit and felt very dirty after leaving the building.

I know exactly what you mean. The last time I was there I had marathon meetings that consumed the majority of the day with very little accomplishment, if any.

That being said, although with some reservation about some quirky office policies, as a whole I think they aren't too bad of an employer so long as one can waddle through the BS. Yesterday's replacement of the CEO is probably a good move.

Now, I have to decide whether to join them or not. Who's got a coin for me to toss? :D

Well, on the day McDonald's announced they're putting baristas and latte machines in all their stores, Starbucks fired its CEO and reinstalled Howard Shultz. I think that suggests the scope of current anxiety / turmoil in the corridors there. Now what do you think?

And since this is FlyerTalk, NW will soon be flying from SEA direct to LHR. The June rates were $666 the last time I checked.

Lots of cruise action out of Seattle, both north to Alaska and south to various points.

Don't know if anyone mentioned Pike's Place Market (I got tired of reading when I hit the bickering), but it is delightful.

You'll love it, I think.

Romelle

BlindPilot - I will let you know that we just "acquired" 4 folks from Starbucks who have now joined my company in the last 4 weeks. They were in the systems/IT area however. I forget what group/area you mentioned you were going to join.

Ouch, ldsant. ;)

I still haven't definitively agreed to join them. I'm playing hard to get. LOL. I have a phone conference with them on Monday.

BTW, any insights about Sbux from the folks that joined your firm?

Well. . .they all VOLUNTARILY came to work for us :D

There's just a lot of false and irrational stuff said on this thread. Some of the posters are just trying to bring a balanced argument to that.

People bring up specific cases of "fake" people in their workplace and blanket that to everyone in Seattle. That is not logical.

I decided to turn down the offer today.

Therefore, I am not moving to Seattle.....yet. I will eventually because I really like that city.

What was your deciding factor not to take the job? Inquiring minds want to know. And heck - if you're technical send me your resume - we're hiring!

Marketing direction was the main factor. I'm in the creative field. :o

BlindPilot....good luck with the job search, however it ends up. I myself moved from ATL to SEA 4-1/2 years ago (after 12 years in ATL) and haven't regretted it for a second, even though the job that moved me here didn't quite work out. For what it's worth, here are my opinions on:
TRAFFIC: no difference. Sucks in both places at times.
WEATHER: Seattle wins. Sure it's dark in the winter, but the summers are spectacular, you don't have to spend $300/month on air conditioning from May through October, and we don't have those annoying thunderstorms that disrupt travel all during the summer.
FRIENDLINESS: no difference. As someone said in an earlier thread, it's about the person more than the place. I've made lifelong friends here in SEA and maintain lifelong friendships back in ATL. And I've got superficial friendships here that won't survive much longer than the ones I had once I left ATL.
AFFORDABILITY: Atlanta wins, because of housing overall. But I'll trade my house here with the occasional views of mountains and lakes for ANYTHING in Atlanta, no question.

Since you say you're in a creative field, I find it hard to believe that you'd find more inspiration in the physical surroundings of Atlanta than Seattle. Atlanta's actually quite a pretty city, and the North Georgia mountains are lovely, but it just ain't the Olympics, the Cascades, and the Puget Sound, not to mention the glorious Pacific coastline.

I've also found more opportunities to follow different intellectual curiosities in Seattle than Atlanta. More lectures, book signings, classes, etc. than Atlanta.

On the other hand, Seattle is a long way away from friends and family on the East Coast--as much as they love visiting during the summer--and it can be harder getting to see them for long weekends and such than when you live in the same time zone.

So whether you'd like Seattle in the long run depends on what's important to you and your family. I firmly believe you can make a great life in either city--good luck with your decision!