Catherine Miller

2 min read
March 29, 2019

Editor’s note: This is a story from our archive.

Store #730
Washington, D.C.

“You know on ‘Cheers’ when Norm used to walk in and everybody said, ‘Norm!’ That’s the way it is when I walk in here,” said Catherine Miller. “I mean, this is my Starbucks.”

Catherine is a pricing and financial reporting manager for a law firm in D.C. right next to the White House. The mother of two has worked in the nation’s capital on and off for more than 20 years. She talked about her children, her philosophy of “faith over fear,” the importance of human connection, her participation in the region’s community carpool hack known as “slugging,” and the curiosities of working in D.C. As if on cue, a fleet of police motorcycles roared by, drowning out the conversation and even the music in the café.

“Oh, you guys are going to be privy to a motorcade,” Miller said. “They say you can tell if there’s an ambulance in the motorcade, it’s the vice president or the president or a high-ranking cabinet member.”

(It turned out to be the president.)

“I mean, the tourists are in awe but the people who work here are like, ‘Oh my god.’ But it has its perks. When President [George H.W.] Bush was laid to rest, his motorcade funeral procession came right through here and we’ve got the 12th floor balcony so a bunch of us went out there and could see him pass. When the Pope came to visit we could do the same thing,” she said. “It has its drawbacks. During the inauguration or anything like that, it’s gridlocked so we can’t really come to work. It’s a little annoying, but it’s also kind of awe inspiring. When I drive in to work in the mornings and I see all the monuments, I think just how lucky I am to work in the nation’s capital and to work right next to the White House. I mean, that’s kind of neat.”

– Jennifer Warnick