Nil's Bakery: My Best Summer Job Yet

Before the summer really started and while I was talking to him about summer jobs, Travis Hellstrom suggested to me that I try to find work at the biggest company I could possibly find. The reason for that is because big companies are overloaded with money and full of employee policy so that they pay good money, and the benefits are huge if you're willing, as we are, to work when normal middle-aged humans would rather be napping by a fire. Naturally, I managed to do the exact opposite.

I work at a place called Nil's Bakery & Cafe, a little eatery in the historic commercial district of downtown Varina run by a Turkish husband and wife, Mustafa and Sibel. I am their one and only employee. I feel extremely privileged because I feel like I have a chance to support exactly the kind of business I love: the kind that I can see. Not to mention the free surprise pastries they give me nearly every day (today it was lemon squares).

What I like so much about this place is that it isn't anything like a McDonald's. It's owned and operated by the people I see and work with every day. They personally serve their customers themselves, and I bet they would laugh if I mentioned anything like a "Nil's Corporate Headquarters". Instead, Mustafa and Sibel are where the rubber hits the road, working with all the energy they have to serve the people in the community, and they make their money by doing a good job of it, without using cajoling advertisement.

It's hard work owning your own business , and they put in exponentially more work than they ask of anyone else (Mustafa puts in at least 11 hours a day, six days a week), but they love the bakery as an extension of themselves. It's a contagious love, too, because even though I've only been working a few days, I already care about it too.

Already this has been, hands-down, the best summer job I've ever had, and I still have a long way to go.