I work at a video store for very little money. However, at this moment, I am watching an advance copy of Almost Famous in my own livingroom. I can also get copies of the movies that are coming out on Tuesday the weekend before. I feel pretty cool.
When I worked for a radio station, I got free CDs and concert tickets like crazy. I miss that.
At my last (real) job, greenhouse grower, I got a ton of free plants. My yard looked very good with all those bedding plants and perennials that just didn’t sell.
I work in a hospital, right off the ER so in addition to being exposed to all the blood, puke, screaming, crying, and general mayhem I could possibly wish for, I have mostly unlimited internet access and not much else to do during my shift! Oh, and the pharmaceutical companies give us all these nifty pens. That’s about it.
Yeah I wasn’t even thinking about that stuff. Little flashlights with the company logo on them & blocks of note paper with the logo on the side & all kinds of little goodies that make you feel like a kid in a candy store but when you get home you end up asking yourself “where in hell did all of this crap come from??”
When I worked for an Oxford college (as lately as last month) I got to use the college’s subsidised bar, normally available only to students. In Oxford, home of inflated bar prices, that’s a perk and a half.
[li]The free T1 home/work dealie[/li][li]Access to unlimited supplies of radioactive materials[/li][li]Access to unlimited and unregulated supplies of injection gear[/li][li]Access to unlimited and unregulated supplies of many controlled substances[/li][li]Subsidized (though slightly crappy) housing in NYC[/li][li]Access to unlimited supplies of miscellaneous hazardous materials[/li][li]Free excess electronic equipment (of unusually high quality)[/li][li]Unlimited access to lots of fancy, dangerous, and unbelievably expensive, scientific equipment[/li][li]Animals, animals, animals. For all your experimentation needs.[/li][li]Access to cryopreservation equipment. Y’all need any sperm preserved? I’m thinking $50 a shot.[/li][li]Working in a fun, open environment that encourages skeptical thinking.[/li][li]All expense paid trips to scientific meetings the world over (always held in exotic locales).[/li]
If only I knew what to do with the above to have fun. Any suggestions?
But there’s a downside, I’m afraid. Along with the freedom of the graduate student lifestyle, come a multitude of anti-perks. I’ll save those for the anti-perk thread.
CB
Well, my company sent me to Munich last March to fix the hardest computer bug of all time. I finished the work a little faster than I thought and managed to get two free days there. Had the time of my life. But that was a one-of-a-kind thing, not a regular occurence like videos or pens.
The Employee Purchase Plan lets me advance purchase up to $900 worth of merchandise, and then 1/18 of that amount is taken from every paycheck pre-taxed.
Free uniforms. I’m allowed to look as dorky as humanly possible at no cost to myself!
Free health insurance.
Lots and lots of permanent Sharpies in all colors.
Pens galore.
As many free blisters, back aches, paper cuts, broken and dirty fingernails, pulled muscles, box opener cuts and bruises as I want.
Head to toe grime at the end of the day.
So basically, I leave work covered in bruises and cuts, dirty and smelly and sore in the ugliest possible outfit known to humankind. But my bed is really comfy and I have cool furniture, so it all evens out, I guess.
Free doo dads from our vendors. Mouse pads, stress things etc the usual things vendors give out. No free hardware because that is prohibited by company policy.