I Love My Job

I tried the whole "work full time at a shit job in order to afford basic luxuries" lifestyle and was absolutely miserable. I tried fast food, retail, restaurants, healthcare, factory work... it all leads to burning out and hating life. The money wasn't worth the exhaustion, the anxiety and the lack of self worth. So I went on a very long hike and re-evaluated what I wanted out of life, I wanted to enjoy my job, even if it meant I needed to give up many luxuries I had come accustomed to. If I had an apartment and bills to pay then this job wouldn't be able to support me but thankfully I manage to avoid such costs by living in my off-grid converted school bus.

"Welcome to Rockhound ridge! you looking to gem mine today or just browsing?" I routinely ask everyone who pulls into the parking lot.

I work for a small family run gem mine in the North Carolina mountains, between 16 and 35 hours a week depending on the season. This "mine" is not a hole in a mountainside, it is a gem and mineral store where you can visit and buy a bucket of gems to sift through at one of our two sluices. My job is ultimately to make things easier for Matt and Cara (the owners). I provide customer service, identify gemstones, organize, restock, clean, make the gemstone buckets and multiple other random tasks. The job is simple, sometimes too simple but it ticks all my boxes and provides a lot of perks that support my own business and hobbies.

I don't see my job as important. I'm not saving lives or fighting crimes but occasionally a small place like this will bring in grieving customers. That's how I found my way here, my father passed away and in the process of grieving my brother and I decided to distract ourselves with gem mining. Matt, Cara and their twelve year old daughter Sam treated us like family from the moment we walked in. The "vibe" of the gem mine was so relaxing, cold sluice water splashed our hands as it washed the sand away, revealing a variety of beautiful stones in our screen boxes. Cara helped us identify each stone as we discovered them. Amethyst, Carnelian, Aventurine, Ruby... so many stones that my mind started reeling with ideas for crafting with this new medium.

We returned multiple times over a few months, our relationship with the Tari's grew and so did our knowledge of gemstones. When the season started getting busier, Matt and Cara turned to us for help and we jumped at the opportunity to work with them. They can't pay much, it's a small business but they regularly show they appreciate our help and they treat us like family.

Cara has a heart of gold, we talk about life, cooking, conspiracy, give each other advice and help one another through tough times. Matt opened doors for us by teaching us the crafts of the trade such as cabbing, slabbing, polishing and carving. He can be "rough around the edges" as Cara would say, but he cares about us all and it is his endless hard work that keeps the business running. Sam grew to like us very quickly. She started following us around as we worked, helping us complete tasks and answering our questions until she deemed us capable of doing things on our own. Now we aren't allowed to ask her "stupid questions" without getting the "seriously? are you stupid?" look. She gives us crap quite often but we give it right back to her and she thinks that's funny. She loves crafting and painting so occasionally I take time to make bracelets or paint with her. She is very mature for her age, if I didn't know better I would guess she was seventeen.

They put a lot of work into their business and I am happy to help them grow. They return the favor with much more than just pay. They allow me to sell my jewelry in the shop, use the cabbing machine and even gain access to the wholesale gem shows for me. Thanks to them I have been able to build a fairly successful Etsy shop for myself, making money doing what I love, crafting.

I work with great people and our customers are usually very friendly as well. I can look forward to work whether it's a busy or slow day. On the slow days I am offered a creative outlet at work. I create cabs, carvings and jewelry for the shop. On busy days it's rewarding to see customers leave with a smile on their face, especially when they come in while grieving (it happens more than you would think). I may not make a difference on a large scale but I help make a difference for a few people every day, even if it's just a small family running their small business.