All in a Day's Work, Part III

On Labor Day, we celebrate workers and the union movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. But we're also celebrating the workers of today. So here at Patch, we talked briefly with a small slice of the working population in the neighborhood, including a real estate executive and a retail store manager.

Scott Gibson is the co-owner with Pat Heller of Gibson International, a residential real estate agency. He got into the business because he saw how important it was for people to get the right home. Nowadays, he's mostly managing his company.

The best part of his job is twofold.

"I love my agents," he said. "But it's funny. As great as the agents are, we have a great group of clients."

And given how much he loves putting people into homes, it's not surprising that the worst part of his job is when a sale falls through.

"Somebody's going to be disappointed—on the buyer's side, from the seller's standpoint," he said.

Sandra Martin, the manager at Space NK Apothecary in the Brentwood Country Mart, said that the store has been open only about 10 weeks.

"I've been with the company three years," she said.

Her favorite part of the job?

"It's just the customers, the interaction with the clients," she said.

But for Martin, who asked not to be photographed, even her least favorite part of the job isn't that bad.

"The worst part is the drive. I live in Long Beach," she said, chuckling. "But it's not that bad."

And if that's as bad as it gets, Martin is one happy worker.