I’ve worked some really crappy jobs before, so I don’t take any of this for granted:
[ul]
[li]Two months off in the summer, two weeks off at Christmas, a week in the spring, and many days here and there throughout the year. [/li]
[li]A reserved parking spot.[/li]
[li]Wonderful health insurance, including dental, and life insurance for myself and my spouse.[/li]
[li]A supervisor who really isn’t picky about when I come in and doesn’t micromanage how I do my work. She knows I work hard, and I don’t need to make a show of it.[/li][/ul]
The only downsides are the crappy pay and low status, but that’s a fair trade-off for me.
They range, and it’s often more reflective of the ignorance of their audience. A couple are actors (“like you’ll ever make a living at that!”), a few are teachers (“you get paid too much to take summers and weekends off!”), others are home-makers (“like taking care of children is work!”). Even my friends who are doing PhDs in the Humanities get the “why would you waste your time doing that? It’s not like you’re bettering humanity” a lot, let alone the “you’ll never get a job!”
I own my own practice. Lots of wonderful things about that, but one of the ones I never thought about is getting to run out on quick errands when I have an hour free. It’s a nice perk and breaks up the day.
I’m salary, yet get paid for every hour I work over my minimum. I have a scheduled 77 hours for 2 weeks, if I work less, I get paid the minimum 77 hours… If I work more, I get paid for every hour I work (though no overtime). Also, since I’m salary (and don’t get time and a half), the company doesn’t care how much extra I work. I made 1/3 more last year then my quoted “Salary” since I wanted too… And I was NEVER forced (guilted, begged, but never forced) to take a shift I didn’t want. I tell them I can’t work, they say OK.
I have never been told how to do my job, by my boss or anyone else. Heck, in the 2500 + hours I worked last year, I probably saw and heard from my boss less then 20 hours all year. I had two complaints by customers in the past year, each time my boss backed me 100%.
I currently feel like I have all the benefits of working for myself, and the benefits of working for a major corporation…
Not to say my job isn’t full of stress, and that I don’t have bad days or weeks… But never anything I have to take home. My time is my time.
I can write out my gadgets as a business expense, and my job(s) take me to many different locations I get to know at a more “how do people here live” level than I would in a tourist trip. And either the clients pay for the traveling… or it’s a business expense
At my company, white collar calendar is aligned with the union contract. They get a large Christmas break (Dec 24th to Jan 2nd) as paid holiday, so we do as well. Adding in the 9/80 Fridays* and a couple of vacation days usually nets me a full 2 weeks at Christmas. It’s easy to forget that most people go right back to work on the 26th. If my math is right, we get a total of 53 paid days off each year (incl vacation). Most jobs don’t offer this much and it’s easy to take for granted.
*for those who don’t know the term, it refers to spreading 2 weeks (80 hours) across 9 workdays instead of ten. Every other weekend is a 3-day (friday off).
Ubiquitous internet access. Right before I left to go up to my mom’s for Christmas, I dropped my iPhone in the toilet. It had to spend some time turned off in a bag of rice before I could use it. I didn’t do much that day–just a few hours of work, some light shopping, and a three hour drive–but I found myself constantly wishing I had my phone. I’d want to look up something in the store, or check my email, and I couldn’t. It was weird how dependent I realized I’d become.
Forget just checking holds… I want to be the first reserve on every book/movie/music CD I want to read/watch/listen to for the entire year. Wait, I already am!
Also, I never have to wonder “Will the library order this book/movie/music CD I want?” because three seconds after I wonder I can be sure the library buys it.
I just got upgraded to an office a few weeks ago. I swear, I will NEVER go back. Ok, maybe I shouldn’t say that for fear of jinxing myself, but…I can make a private phone call from my desk (I could always wander away and make one on my iphone, but I usually want to be looking at my calendar. I can close the door and go head-down-total-focus when I have a project that I want to give my all to. I have better/more surfaces to hang pictures and whatever I want. And yes, sadly, the other day when I was feeling stupid depressed, I could close my door and have a private cry.
I also have a lot of latitude with how I spend my days on those days when I’m not training. I’m allowed to do some meandering research about things I am curious about, as long as I meet other project deadlines.
I have a job I enjoy, and I earn a good living. I live right in the middle of the mountains of Vermont, with a truly spectacular view.
I could probably double or triple my salary if I lived in Silicon Valley or one of the other high-tech areas in the country, but I wouldn’t be able to strap on my snowshoes and head out my back door.
I live right on a train line and take the train to work every day, so I never have to deal with rush hour traffic. Even better, you can bring beer on the train. My train mates and I take advantage once or twice a week on average.
I haven’t bought a cell phone in over a decade - I get to (actually, have to) carry the latest stuff before it’s released.
Also, my boss really trusts me to get my job done. He knows that I’ll put in the time as needed. Like last Thursday, when I worked 13 hours to try to nudge people towards a deadline. The flip side is I don’t need to ‘make up’ time missed. This is great, since I’m coming in late two or three days a week due to physical therapy right now.
Through an odd group of events, I have 42 vacation days that I can take in 2013. For living in the USA, that’s a ton. I have no idea what (or if) I’ll do with them.
I also live very close to numerous public transit options. Commuting from my neighborhood to work is easy.
I work overnights now and I’m only working with one person. It is feast or famine as far as the workload. On the slow nights, I can surf the web and play games on my phone without having to pretend to do something if others were around. I also don’t have to deal with a lot of the typical office bullshit since no one else is around.
I get a paid sabbatical every 5 years, this is my 5th year!
Having a gym at work & being a commutable distance. I can ride to work some days. It saves gas & time because my commute isn’t ‘wasted time’. I greatly appreciate having it but don’t take it for granted because I’ve had jobs without.
Having a job in a field that I know I will never be laid off/unemployed is a significant plus. Also, working just three days a week while earning a good living is nice.
I consciously remind myself of these factors periodically, so I don’t exactly take them for granted.
mmm
