It All Pays the Same.

Don Smith was a guy I worked with a while back.

Actually, I should correct that.

Don Smith was a guy who worked, and worked hard, and his work actually invoked sweat. Mine does not always do that.

But not only was Don a great coworker, he was also a fun person to know. He had fabulous stories and comments, and one that has stuck with me in the three years that have passed since we wore the same badge was, "It all pays the same."

He'd usually say this when I was apologizing about asking him to do something that I found entirely unappetizing -- perhaps unloading a pallet of boxes, or sorting through a bunch of junk, or measuring random square footage so I'd have the proper dimensions for an upcoming event. The absolute best, though, was parking (and reparking, and reparking, and reparking) 50 Nissan trucks so that...get this...my aerial photo shots would be enticing to the media.

You KNOW he loved that.

For real. This man did WAY too much "beck-and-call" mess for my preference, but he did have a great point as he laughed and, without fail, shrugged and commented, "It all pays the same."

Maybe it's sad; maybe it's introspective. But fact is, I've probably mulled over that statement much more often than the deep, insightful career advice I've been fortunate enough to receive from PR/communications mentors and counterparts. Because on days like today, when I'm -- for real -- counting way too many rocks & seashells for my own good, or when I'm sweating my head off at an outdoors event, or when I'm practicing "the customer is always right" initiative, I have to remember, it all pays the same.

And that is something to be truly grateful for, whether I like what "it" is or not.

So thanks, Don Smith. I get it. And you're so right.