Work Hangover

I couldn't get out of bed this morning.  Our alarm had gone off numerous times, Nate was in the shower, Noah was chatting with the crib toys...it was time to rise.  But. I. Couldn't. Open. My. Eyes.  Maybe it had something to do with the fact that I worked until 10:30 last night.  Nothing like Christmas hours at a retail store. :)  But I gotta tell you, if I had to work anywhere, it doesn't get much better than REI...as evidenced by our store's Christmas picture last year:

 

Can you find me?  (I'm on the left.)  We took another one this year, I'll post it whenever I get a copy.

I'm not gonna lie, it is HARD to work part-time sometimes.  Especially at Christmas time; other things suffer because of my work schedule.  For instance, we will have only eaten 1-2 dinners together as a family for the month of December.  :(

But for the difficulties, there are some great benefits.  Not just the discounts, of which there are plenty.  It's bigger than that for me.  I have some great coworkers who have become friends over the past year.  The managers seriously care about me and everyone else; they go above and beyond to make it a fun place to work.  Like providing meals for all the employees during this holiday season.  And this might sound crazy, but everyone is always happy to be working.  I mean, of course there are people who are tired, or might rather be getting other things done.  But for the most part, everyone is happy and content to be working.  I'd even go so far as to say that there's almost palpable joy in the air when I'm at work.  Sounds crazy, I know.

Anyways, just something I thought I'd share.  I can tend to get ornery about having to work at nights and on weekends (which is generally when I'm scheduled, so that Nate can watch Noah), but when I reflect on my job it is a pretty sweet deal, I think.  :)