I had an epiphany this weekend at Papa John's Pizza on the U of L campus. I was there Saturday to get pizzas for those of us working down at church on clean-up day. (Side note: our church is in the 'hood, and none of the pizza places will deliver to us.) The second I opened the door at Papa John's, I was greeted by the manager, Frank. He was over behind the counter making pizzas. I was surprised, not because they were friendly to me, but because the manager was doing work that his workers would normally be doing.
While I placed my order, I mentioned something about places not delivering to church, and Frank gave me a hefty discount. I took a seat right in front of the pizza making area so I could watch. As I mentioned before, making pizzas is one of my dream jobs. As I watched Frank expertly roll out the crust and carefully place the toppings on the pizzas, I envied him; he was doing something I'd always wanted to do. As I talked with Frank about his job and watched him make pizzas, I envied him even more; Frank was happy doing his job.
Don't get me wrong - it's not that I'm unhappy here at my job - I have a great job, I enjoy it [most of the time] and work for a great company. But honestly, I can't say I sit here and smile like Frank does whenever I get a problem call from the factory, or when I'm rushing to get out new schedules. While Frank was making my pizzas, he got interrupted a half a dozen times with questions and problems, but I noticed he was still smiling. Frank is my new hero - I'm going to try to be like him.
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A quote from the great Martin Luther King, Jr:
"If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven played music or Shakespere wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well."
I'm sure Frank gets his pepperoni in a twist from time to time, but it's nice to see someone take pride in their work...no matter what that work may be.
I keep thinking of another quote. This one is from "Rudolph, The Red-Nosed Reindeer." Hermey, the elf that wants to be a dentist, is moping around in the elf workshop, just half-ass building toys. The head elf comes up to him and says, "Hermey, what's eatin' ya, boy?" And Hermey sighs and says "Just not happy with my work, I guess."
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