Why I love my JOB (Joy of Buying)

A few days ago someone asked me why I love my JOB. I gave him a politically correct answer. I love my job because it gives me satisfaction and sense of accomplishment and achievement and few more adjectives that I have mastered during my Toastmasters journey. But later I went on thinking mode that why do I love my job and do I really do? I mean who loves to work these days. Maximum people with whom I interact belong to the TGIF cult. Am I really normal who loves Mondays too and looks forward to going back to my WORK (Wonderful Opportunity 4 Remarkable Kickoff) Do I love my JOB more than my FAMILY (Forget about Money I Love You). The questions are many as I keep on scratching my brains for an answer or should I say I had a guilt that to admit that I love my Job more. 

1. Connecting with people - The first reason why I love my JOB is that it gives me a wonderful opportunity to interact with different types of people. Since I handle the procurement of a wide variety of items, I get a chance to interact with not only people outside my organization but also lot of employees are my internal customers as I touch their lives in one way or the other. It feels so nice to help people struggling in the organisation with their official needs by fulfilling their needs so that they can work better. I feel a sense of satisfaction when some department achieves their goals and I am even just a small part in the same. 

2. Observation and body language - As a person who has a theatre lineage and has indulged in theatre during his early days, my JOB gives me an opportunity to observe people, their body language during my interactions with them. All great method actors in order to get to the skin of the character do various things to get a feel of the environment of that person so that enactment is better and as close to reality as possible. You have to understand the psyche of a person to understand his behaviour. Why he acts in a particular way, how will he react to a particular situation if he is in a particular state of mind. If you are able to predict the same then JOB is fun. It is fun to watch internal customers coming to me and sharing fake urgency in order to get their things done or when a vendor tries to sell what he wants rather than what I need. There are few people who are not able to articulate and get ignored most of times but if we are a reader of human emotions we will understand they are genuine. 

3. Mentor - After spending 25 years in procurement in various industries and having engaged in all types of procurement, I feel I have a fair idea of problems of people in procurement profession. I am an accidental Buyer as I did my MBA in Marketing but have always been on the other side of fence and loved my JOB of Buyer instead Sales. There is no institute which teaches you Buying after getting Higher Secondary qualification like other streams of medicine, arts, science, engineering etc. Hence, we buyers learn from our on the job experiences and failures. I can proudly say that I am a result of my failures, disappointments and non achievements. And this is the reason it is my duty to mentor those Buyers who need my views, experiences and help. After all, why should we commit the same mistakes, lets commit new mistakes, learn something new. I feel proud that i touch lives of not only those who are working with me but also of those industry peers who meet me at various conferences 

Hey, where is the JOY here? Where is the FUN? Is there any fun in doing the same thing again and agin daily. Would it not be too much of a cliche if I say that I love my JOB because I go out and PLAY. Unfortunately, it is a Truth that if I do my JOB very seriously, then I am working but its the spirit in which I work matters and if I do not play when I do my JOB, then there would be no Joy of Buying, then I would be working. And if you are spending 12 hours out of home just to make sure that those 4 - 6 hours with loved ones be happy, then these 12 hours must be joyful. Believe it or not, when we talk of Work Life balance, if your JOB is stressful, then however hard you may try the time spent at home is bound to be stressful. So, it is necessary that we must have fun while working. I have FUN (Fruitful Upbeat Negotiation) as I do my JOB (Joy of Buying) 

Do You ???