Best seat in the house

My nephew thought I made chairs for a living.

This became apparent when he attempted to strike up a conversation with me a couple weeks ago. He just turned 7, and I'm pretty sure he was only talking to me to avoid doing homework. But he's not always very communicative, so I take what I can get.

At any rate, here's how the exchange went:

Nephew: So, how's your chair making job coming along?
Me: Ahh . . . Well, now that you mention it, I got a new job -- but I haven't started yet.
Nephew: You got FIRED? (said with extreme emphasis on the last word)
Me: Nooo, I didn't get fired.
Nephew: You QUIT? (said with even more emphasis on the last word)

Oddly enough, I got a similar reaction from a lot of people.
Yeah, thanks for the support guys!

Not to say that I blame them necessarily. I did work for a company with some pretty awesome amenities. The place has a workout room, healthcare clinic and cafeteria right in the building. Not to mention a ridiculous amount of vacation time, and a profit sharing program that contributes MORE than 15% of your income into a retirement account.

But still, a person can get pretty burnt out making chairs. Day after day, week after week, year after year -- nothing but chairs. And so MANY chairs at that! A casual observer might go so far as to say that we made too many chairs! At least when you consider the number of people making them.

Oh wait, I didn't really make chairs there. . .

I think my nephew got confused because I decorated some chairs (bar stools actually), and donated them to a charity auction that raises money to fight cancer. My best guess is that he overheard me explaining the chairity auction to my sister and brother in-law.

He probably heard me say two people I WORK with organize the auction each year, and that I was MAKING CHAIRS to donate. Apparently, his six year-old mind distilled my explanation into a simple equation consisting of the words WORK and MAKING CHAIRS. And since I was the one saying it, well, what other conclusion could be drawn?

I'm not sure if my nephew was paying enough attention to remember that I'm not "making chairs" anymore. If he does remember, he might be disappointed, or a little worried about everything that I left behind at my old job.

But that's okay.

Because even if some people don't see it yet, I know I've got a great new place to sit!