i like what i do

the stock of the company i work for went up almost three dollars yesterday.  i’m not sure why, but it will look good in my 401k.  i have a great job.  i work with books and people all day long.  i get to have a friendly banter with customers and i can talk about the books they are buying.  every once in a while i get a customer that pisses me off or, like a few weeks back, is so angry at something they throw a book at me (it missed) and sometimes it can get long and tiring and sometimes i ache like a mofo when i get home (standing up for 7-8 hours a day will do that).  i have good benefits (health, dental, 401k, paid vacations, sick time, and something called “personal days”).  i get a decent wage and i should be up for at least a  fifty cent raise an hour in the fall.  they work with me and my life outside of work– i generally don’t work on sundays, they know i’m a church goer and respect that.  they have been great (so far) with working around my school schedule and when the time comes they offer a tuition reimbursement program (1,500 dollars once a year, which is better then no times a  year).  i like, for the most part, the people i work with.  i get a little bored once in a while, but that’s what job is, you know?  that’s why its called work, but more often than not i really look forward to going to work and i often still say “i get to go to work today,” sometimes, when my knees hurt i will lament about “having to go to work,” but that’s not very often.  what brings this up?  we get applications from what i call “the hopefuls” pretty much daily.  highschoolers and college kids mostly, particularly as it gets closer to summer.  they ask me if we are hiring for the summer and i give them the pat phrase “i’m not sure, but we are taking applications.  this place can change pretty quick.”  it doesn’t change that often, truth be told.  i’m still amazed that i work for the company.  i actually have accomplished one of my dreams.  and that dream was to work for the company i work for.  its not a very pretty store, its not even all that big, but its mine and i work there.  i’m in no hurry to leave it and i probably won’t at least not for a long time, or my knees give out.