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Working with a Spouse, aka My Work Ethic Part 2

At one point, my husband was my supervisor, and believe it or not, we’re still married!

I have to explain that we’re one of those annoyingly cute couples who are best friends as well as spouses. It’s not that we never fight, but it’s rare. It’s much more important to us to enjoy our lives together, and we enjoy spending as much time as we can together, so it made sense for us to work together, too. Luckily a friend of ours managed a movie theater, and he gladly hired both of us. I’m not sure how many managers would hire a couple (we were just dating at the time), but we were thrilled to be working together.

I have to say that my husband gave me my strong work ethic. He was actually my supervisor at Starlight Cinemas, which you’d think might bother me, but I was fine with it. He had more work experience than me, and in life in general, he taught me so much that it made sense for him to be a supervisor to me. Plus, he was a great supervisor and teacher to all of the other employees. He taught me what it meant to work hard and to be proud of what you’re doing. Even if his job was mopping up a floor, he did it to the best of his ability, and his pride was contagious, at least to me.

During this job, I started taking my job very seriously. It wasn’t just a way to make money, it meant something to say I did a good job. I’m not saying I was the best employee ever (truth be told, I have a bit of a temper, and remember the story of me hanging up on a customer?), but I worked really hard. I worked my way up to my own supervisory position, and I tried to make my attitude infectious as my husband had done for me.

There was one more job where we worked for the same company, but we rarely saw each other as I worked in the office and he was out on calls all day long. Still, we kept seeking that same situation where we could spend more time with one another. I’ve never understood people who marry someone they seem to never want to be around. When I tell people that I worked with my husband, they say, “I couldn’t imagine that! If I had to spend every day with my spouse, we’d end up killing each other!”

I just don’t get that. I chose to marry someone I get along with, not just someone I’m physically attracted to, I guess. Why doesn’t everyone do that? Wouldn’t they be happier? Maybe this is why I consider my family way more important than my career, and is that a downfall? In a way, I will never fully commit myself to a job, it will never feel like my entire world, because I have someone at home that means everything to me. My job is just a means to spending more time with my spouse. My spouse isn’t someone I just come home to and we share a living space and an occasional laugh with. He’ll always mean more to me than a job.