"Co-op Students contribute more than they cost"

That's the infamous line of self-promotion from the highly repubtable Dalhousie Univeristy School of Engineering.

Well now I understand just how scorchingly true it is.
On all my previous jobs I always politely noted that I wasn't being paid enough to do the useless (or never to be used useful) stuff I was doing. Whether it was lifeguarding or working on some "critical" development projects for the goverment, my contributions never had a dollar figure that I could compare with my salary.

I've just returned from cold, dark, and very northren Alberta. The transit time itself could have seen me in Prague enjoying a nice riverside dinner with a beautiful blonde had I flown for the same amount of time.

While it's colder than any cold I've ever know up there, it was rather warm where I was. I toured a facility that burned more natural gas everyday than the city of Calgary. The purpose, all to produce steam to heat up oil and make it flow. The scale of the project was incredible and as I struted along with my branded hardhat, just happy to be there, the operators suddenly turned to me, "So what's your take?"

I gulped, suddenly ambushed for my opinion. Maybe that was the warning sign that I was taking on a level of importance and perhaps even a level of reputation beyond my tracking.

Today the economics for my project returned, the model finally finished running. For 2 weeks of solid work, I have essentially generated 1000 times my cumulative 4-month salary in profit for the company.

The most astounding part perhaps is that the idea for this huge cash pot just kinda blurted out all at once, with no particular real thought behind it, between sips of my coffee on an overly extended break while I was complaining about something or other (I believe it was the lack of heat in the office).

Now I'm sitting here, floored... really wishing the company would grant me a 1% bonus on the net profit of my project. Which of course, has recieved every green light for progression in near record time.