Job perks...

50% off of our wines, I haven’t decided if this is a good thing or not yet, since Saturday morning’s breakfast regularly includes 3 Excedrin.
Cool kiss up stuff from vendors, like pastries and stuff when they come in, cool x-mas gifts, etc.

I worked for a hotel group when I was living in PA, free stays at any hotels they owned and fantastic rates at any franchise they owned a hotel under.

At the lab, I can test several water quality parameters. I used to test my hot tub every few weeks. Not really a perk in the pure sense, but people tend to pay back favors when I test the well water from their cabin of something.

The other sort-of-perk is access to such a wide variety of talented and knowledgeable people. Electricians, electronics technicians, welders, mechanics, pipefitters, metal workers, carpenters, painters, network engineers, programmers. Good people to know when you have questions.

Interestingly, the welders and mechanics know the most about computer hardware and systems integration. They all build their own systems from components.

And through my wife’s job, I have free legal counsel and know how to get away with many different crimes.

Doesn’t your manager notice the missing inventory? :slight_smile: It’s amazing how a single missing “f” changes the whole meaning of your statement there.

My welcome package for my new job contained two $3 off coupons for Starbucks. I think they were playing on the word “perk”. Too bad I don’t drink coffee.

First reads on all the books sent for review in our magazine. (I open the mail.)

Freebies (pens, calendars, etc.) sent to people no longer employed here (I open the mail, and my boss says it’s okay to keep the ‘no longer here’ stuff as long as she gets here freebie stuff.)

I get paid.

Ladies and gents, I think we have our winner. Although getting free furniture is pretty high up there, Sarah. (as Swiddles sits on her floor cushion…)

I got flashed at work yesterday by a very attractive actress. I think that counts as a perk. :slight_smile:

Let’s see…

  • T1 access.
  • My own desk (I know a lot of people take this for granite, but man, I just can’t get over it).
  • Free medical/dental.
  • Free computer stuff. Nothing expensive though – RJ-45 cabling, RJ-45 crimpers, cheap mice, cheap keyboards, dirty mousepads, old floppies, etc.
  • Annual raises (regardless of merit).
  • Free food on fridays.

Shit, did I say granite? I meant granted, of course.

Free t1 line at work, and freebies (pint glasses, jackets, etc.) with our company logo (which always gets snapped on eBay). Free coffee, tea, and cold spring water.

Grad student and TF, here.

Free photocopying.
Access to heaps o’ library materials.
Three or four fancy parties a year.
Discount theater tickets.
Discount airfares.
Free books and back issues of journals (sometimes).

There are a lot of anti-perks, too, but I’ll save them for another thread.

Use of swimming pool and gym. (I really should go - it’s been 6 months and I haven’t been yet. I can’t start going now)
Cheap lunches.
Free booze from 6pm to 7pm on Friday.

Not that much, actually…

Loads of Internet bandwidth on the job (3 x E3, 1 x T3 and some LAN-based links as well).

My SDSL line to my home isn’t in place yet, so currently I’ve had to settle for ISDN, but as long as it’s free.

Fresh fruit, lots of coffee & soft drinks.

Bags, pens, t-shirts, flashlights, breathmints etc. galore.

That’s more or less it, I guess ?

S. Norman

I outrank the Chief of Police…

I’m the collection manager in an air force museum, so I get to climb over the airplanes whenever I want (not that I want to that often) but OTOH it is fun to crawl into the nose of our B-17 and look out over the hangar floor, and oh yeah, I almost forgot, after Christmas I got to saunter (and by that I mean walk VERRRYYY carefully, in my imagination I was sauntering nonchalantly) up the top of the fuselage of our C-47 to retrieve the Santa Claus that had been sitting above the cockpit window. And I get to TOUCH ANYTHING I want!! Which for a museum freak like me is quite a deal.

My graduate degree is free, along with any undergrad classes I choose to take.

My wife is getting her master’s degree for free. If I’m still working here when our kids are old enough for college (not bloody likely) they get to go for free.

T1 access at my desk with a 17" monitor that faces away from the door, in my own office.

Boss ponies up for lunch once a week.

90 minutes for lunch three days a week.

Free, unlimited access to the gym, fitness center, swimming pool.

Free photocopying and faxing.

Bushels of office supplies ripe for the pickin.

Week off between Christmas and New Year’s Day that doesn’t count against my vacation days.

Office supplies
Prison chow
The legal right to shoot people at work

I work for a large public university. The fact that we’re public/govt/educational/non profit means we don’t get juicy perks, but being large and part of a huge megauniversity that is practically its own city–that has some pluses. Mostly it’s access to things, but some discounts, too. For example, the U health service has a stellar eye clinic. I’ve worn glasses for 25 years, with yearly exams, and I’ve never had such a thorough exam as I got when I started going here–plus, the best advice on glasses I’ve ever gotten. Let’s see, the right to pay $400 a year for parking. That’s ghastly, but at least I CAN park in a downtown area that’s impossible otherwise. Also, the opportunity to buy tickets to athletic events before the unwashed general masses, no small thing around here. Preferential treatment on the waitlists for the U child care centers (not that it seems to have helped me). Awesome services like the Family Care Resource office–they stay on top of what sort of day care centers and elder care facilities in the area have openings, and what they offer. I call them, tell them what we’re looking for, they can give me a hot list of places that meet my needs and that are likely to have space. You have no fricking idea how much time, frustration, and fruitless phone calls that can save you.

Free internet from home–email and web.

Outrageous discounts on software. Some decent discounts on hardware. We purchased a package of Word, Excel, Powerpoint, and Frontpage for $33 complete, to use at home. Hello!

My office happens to maintain its own small library of books and periodicals that save me many a trip to the U library as I try to get this dissertation done. Thanks to my boss and coworkers, all the free quilting advice a girl could ever need. Too bad I don’t quilt.

I’m probably forgetting a lot. Like I said, it’s access to things. If I wanted to, I think I could use the university’s woodworking facility, the golf course, the athletic facilities, etc, for free or cheap, but I haven’t wanted to.

I get irradiated by gamma rays every day. Free of charge.
The only good thing about this job is the drug service reps who cater lunch and bring yummy treats once or twice a week.