See, when I started this summer job way back when, never did I imagine that the people I work with would become my second family (probably because a majority of them are literally already my family). As corny as is it sounds, and I know you will all roast me in our group chat later, I am eternally grateful for each and every one of you.

Co-Workers,

You make the world go round.

Waking up every day just to show up at the same place, with the same people, during the summer takes a certain level of commitment; as we learn throughout the season not everyone has what it takes, for a whole slew of reasons. It takes dedication to devote your entire summer to working (mostly the desire for money really), but it also takes some really great co-workers.

Nobody understands the agonizing, tedious, chaotic nature of your job quite like your co-workers, and they are the only ones who understand the pride you get from working at the job that you do. Being friends with those you work with is so important (the key to success), they make the double shift days go by in the blink of an eye, and they make your eighth work day in a row feel like the first (for the most part who are we kidding).

Every waking moment of your summer is spent with these people. Whether it is actually spending time with them at work, going to Chili’s with them after your shift is over, or spending your one days off with them at the beach, you have accumulated more time spent with them than you have spent at home. So for that I say thank you — if I am going to be hanging out with anyone other than my dog, I am happy it is you guys.

Thank you for understanding me in a different way that only you could possibly know. Only you know how I handle a strenuous day when my lunch break comes four hours after it should, or how I handle the rainy days where there is not a customer in sight.

Waking up in the morning knowing I get an another day of work with you crazy bunch of people is a breath of fresh air. Thank you for being my work friends and my real life friends, the friends to give me advice about which manager I should call, and the friends to give me advice about life (and the friends that send really sweet pick-me up messages with pictures of donuts).

While for many of you this might be your last summer working, and for others it is only the start, thank you. Thank you for being there through it all.

As the great Leslie Knope once said “We get to do work worth doing, alongside people that we love” and I have never heard anything more true than that (other than “if it’s free it’s for me” spoken by the great unknown philosopher).