对薇薇安来说意义在于与她的同事和客户之间的情感交流。给予她鼓励和内涵的实际上是，她所照顾的那些身在异乡的人们。因为她深知远离家乡是怎样的一种感觉。
That very human lesson, more than 20 years ago, served me well during the last economic downturn we had. In the wake of the dotcom crash and 9/11, San Francisco Bay Area hotelswent through the largest percentage revenue drop in the history of American hotels. We were the largest operator of hotels in the Bay Area, so we were particularly vulnerable. But also back then, remember we stopped eating French fries in this country. Well, not exactly, of course not. We started eating "freedom fries," and we started boycotting anything that was French. Well, my name of my company, Joie de Vivre -- so I started getting these letters from places like Alabama and Orange County saying to me that they were going to boycott my company because they thought we were a French company. And I'd write them back, and I'd say, "What a minute. We're not French. We're an American company. We're based in San Francisco." And I'd get a terse response: "Oh, that's worse."
这非常感人的一课，在超过二十年里，在这次经济危机中，更是让我受益良多。在从互联网泡沫和911事件觉醒过来之后，三藩市海湾地区的酒店业经历了在美国酒店业历史上最惨重的的收入暴跌。我们曾经是海湾地区最大的酒店运营商因此我们的损失尤其惨重。更糟糕的是，我们从那时起停止使用法国薯片.而，准确说来，它不是法国的.。我们开始吃“自由薯片”我们开始抵制一切来自法国的东西而，我公司的名字，joiedevivre，所以我开始收到许多来自阿拉巴马和橘郡的信件，通知我他们即将要抵制我的公司，原因在于他们以为我们是一家法国公司。然后我给他们回信说，“等等，我们不是法国公司。我们是美国公司，我们的公司总部在三藩市。“然后我接到一个精炼的回答：那更糟糕!
So one particular day when I was feeling a little depressed and not a lot of joie de vivre, I ended up in the local bookstore around the corner from our offices. And I initially ended up in the business section of the bookstore looking for a business solution. But given my befuddled state of mind, I ended up in the self-help section very quickly. That's where I got reacquainted with Abraham Maslow's "hierarchy of needs."
在一个特别的日子，我感觉异常沮丧甚至找不到生活的乐趣时，我走进了一间坐落在我们办公室楼边的本地书店。我先去看了和经商有关的书籍，寻找一个商业解决方案。可是我感觉到头昏脑胀，我快速浏览了有关自助的书籍。在那儿，我重新认识了亚伯拉罕.马斯洛的人类需求等级的理论。
