The Slice: For many around us, it’s a labor of love

Priest Lake fishing guide Rich Lindsey doesn’t have to think long to identify the best thing about his job.

“I deal with people every day who are in a positive mood and having fun,” he said.

Not everyone can say that, of course. But even though many of us complain about our work situations, a lot of us would have to admit that there are rewards above and beyond salary.

With Labor Day about to clock in, The Slice asked a few readers to talk about what they especially like about their jobs.

Whitworth University’s Christie Anderson helps night students obtain their business degrees.

“The best part of my job is facing a group of accounting-phobic adults and teaching them that using financial reports to make decisions isn’t hard or boring … ,” she wrote. “Our returning students hated any accounting class they ever took and dread seeing me. But we have a lot of fun and they leave my courses with a new confidence in their ability to read and understand financial statements from a manager’s perspective.”

Janine Fraser wears several hats at Inland Northwest Ballet — owner, instructor, you name it.

“The best thing about my job is getting to work with kids that are absolutely thrilled to be there,” she said. “Their enthusiasm is exciting as well as entertaining.”

Karen Mobley, arts director for the city of Spokane, likes knowing she helped make a difference.

“The best part of my job is when I hear from someone that a project of the Spokane Arts Commission changed the course of someone’s life, inspired a new idea or lifted someone’s spirits,” she wrote. “The people I meet and the connections I make are the heart of my job.”

Sometimes a “thank you” can make her day.

“Recently, a young woman who worked on a mural with the Arts Commission in 2000 called to tell me she had just graduated from art school and she credited us for giving her the confidence to go for her dream of working in public art.

“I remember her as a tiny little girl with a big paint brush who made a picture of her family’s dog. Now she is a confident young adult and is well on the way to becoming the professional artist she wants to be.”

Speaking of young adults…

Hollis Clark doesn’t have a job in the traditional sense. She is a senior at Cheney High School.

Still, she had no trouble responding to The Slice’s Labor Day survey.

“The best part about high school itself — I would have to say it’s the genuine affection we have for each other,” she wrote. “It seems to me that most people get along with the people they work with and, if they’re lucky, they have one or two close friends from their jobs. I, on the other hand, go to ‘work’ every day with all or most of my very best friends. So when things get tough, I have the coolest people I know to help get me through it.”

“Today’s Slice question: What conclusions would you draw about this area after studying the message T-shirts people wear to the fair?