It's the little things ... even at work

According to the Myers-Briggs test, I love me some compliments. Which is true as long as they're sincere compliments. But who doesn't?! Even the best of the "I" group can appreciate appreciation.
I keep saying how much I love my job. And even though I know it's still the honeymoon stage and that there will always be things that I won't like or get pissed off about, the ten months I spent at my former job were utterly painful and had made me into a different person. In my previous job, I didn't want to make the time to sustain friendships, enjoy my vices like spa treatments or do any fun things, in general. I just wanted to crawl into bed and sleep because, yes, it was that bad. In the job I have now, I have a sense of purpose and fulfillment. That's pretty freakin' great if you ask me. Or I'll just tell you.
With any great job, there are challenges. I think for most people, including myself, a job that doesn't present challenges is boring. Well, let's just say that I have no time to be bored in my position. I knew this, however, coming into the job. I thoroughly questioned the person who was leaving the position (and, lucky for me, she was also my friend so I knew she would tell the truth) because I wanted to make sure that the position and the organization would be a good fit for me. She and the people I work for now made sure to tell me the good and the bad, like the fact that my territory is quite a challenge. I would never say that I wasn't warned.
I am a little competitive. I don't necessarily want to be better than everyone. But I want to be better than most and be as good as the best. Odd, I know, but I guess that's why there's the term friendly competition. Anyway, this presents a challenge since my territory isn't so hot, my sales numbers aren't so hot. I am happy (as well as my bosses) that I have had growth. And that's all fine and good but when I compare my numbers to my colleague's numbers, it can be a little discouraging.
I have a point to all this background information.
A few days ago, I was flying back from my work conference with a colleague. We were chatting on the plane when a woman from a row over said, "Excuse me, I'm sorry to interrupt but I couldn't help hearing your conversation. Do we work for the same organization?" Thankfully, our conversation was totally PC and we told her yes. She then told us her name and that she was an executive director at a nearby office. We told her our names. When I introduced myself, she said, "You! I know you! I know who you are!"
This is when I was momentarily freaking out because I was frantically trying to recall if I had done anything during the conference that I may not have recalled but would cause me great embarrassment.
I replied, "Why?" (I know, odd reply but I wanted to know why she knew me.)
She said, "You're doing really well! I see your name on the weekly sales reports and you're doing really, really well!!"
OK, this is when I thought she might have confused me with someone else because my numbers were nothing to write home about. I honestly was uncomfortable because I figured I would have to correct her and then feel all stupid because it wasn't me. It didn't help that the person I was traveling with had better numbers than me. See what I mean?
But she swore she knew what she was talking about. She asked, "Isn't your name usually highlighted on the weekly reports?" and I told her that yes, for certain things, my name is listed but my numbers were not the highest in our organization. But she was still really excited and said that the numbers are important but growth is too and that she was particularly impressed by my figures. She knew that I was fairly new to the company and was interested in knowing my strategies so she could share them with her new employee. Foreel?
This made my freakin' day.
Because, like I wrote, I love my job. But I'm not rockin' the charts the way my other colleagues are doing. And I know that I have had growth but the bottom line is revenue. And there are many others bringing in the dollah-dollah-bills, y'all. So I was over the moon that someone in a management position who wasn't my boss was commending me for my work. Hell yah it felt good! Because, like I wrote, I think everyone appreciates being appreciated. Because it feels goooood. And all of us hard workers deserve a pat on the back from time to time. (And bonuses, if at all possible.)