Comments on: Workplace Experiments

By: Rachel*

Rachel* — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 03:05:53 +0000

we get to play outside, laugh at our boss for talking to babies (we basically call her crazy), and during the summer she pays us to go to pick up food or go to the zoo!

By: Marcus

Marcus — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 23:26:27 +0000

Transcriptionist.

No dress code whatsoever. I have piercings and a bright red mohawk and show up in the same clothes I’d go moshing in or hanging out with friends in.

We have wildly flexible hours. We basically show up to get work done, and when it’s done, we go home, even if that means we’ve worked as little as 3 hours for that day.

We have parties with booze and great food nearly every month.

Soon I’ll be working directly from home with even less hours, possibly as few as six hours a night, four nights a week.

The only downside is that we work night shift, but that’s minor compared to all the perks. My job rocks.

By: TeacherPatti

TeacherPatti — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 21:45:45 +0000

Like Rosy, I am a teacher (special ed) in the inner city. It is the best job that I ever had! I used to work in the legal aid field and got paid way less, no time off (if you took time off, you were seen as easily dispensable) and crappy hours.

I also look forward to winter, spring and summer breaks (we don’t get paid for them though…I only get paid for 44 weeks). I do get (accidentally) stepped on (kids are visually impaired), tripped over and peed on once in a great while, and yeah, one of the kids jerks off from time to time, but I wouldn’t change it for the world. I love those kids and I wouldn’t leave even if I won the lottery (maybe :))

By: Leisa

Leisa — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 21:30:02 +0000

If I had a regular 4-day workweek, I’d prefer Mondays off to Fridays off. Much more decadent. But I have a wonderful part-time job with full-time benefits. I have plenty of time to pursue freelance projects, one of which will make me rich and happy someday.

By: Amy

Amy — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 20:24:14 +0000

My company flies us to Hawaii for an X-mas present every year and puts us up at the 5 star resort in Oahu. And yet, Im contemplating leaving…

By: Jason

Jason — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 19:22:05 +0000

I’ve been slowly easing my company into the idea of a Results-Only Work Environment, as championed by Best Buy headquarters.

By: HL

HL — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 17:14:28 +0000

I think the best thing about my job is that we have a daycare/preschool. I don’t have kids, but its reassuring to know that if I do one day, they’ll be close by for their first couple of years. And, my cube is close to the daycare annex, so I get to hear them singing and laughing occasionally throughout the day. It most always makes me smile.

By: Rosy Blooms

Rosy Blooms — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 16:48:07 +0000

I teach art in a public school. I see upwards of 160 kids a day, but I am getting paid to-make-art-all-day-long!! (I had my own studio for many years and it was a feast or famine existence.) I have unlimited access to all the materials I could ever need and my day ends at 2:30 p.m. Paid summers and extended holiday vacations, along with three weeks of sick/personal leave which amount to a 180 work-day year. I am 40 years old and still get excited about spring break.

Sure I have to occasionally deal with projectile vomit, blubbering, woeful tales of not getting to be line-leader and lost lunchboxes, and some just plain *craziness* (who doesn’t?) but the overall scene is great. I will continue this gig as long as I am able!

By: Kevin

Kevin — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 16:06:52 +0000

Here in the engineering department we can come in whenever we want, as long as you get 40 hrs for the week and complete your projects on time no one bothers you.

By: SpaceMonkeyX

SpaceMonkeyX — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 15:00:42 +0000

I work for a municipal government, so there’s no chance for any kind of experimental workplace here.

I’ve always wanted to work for a place that had these sorts of experimental/flexible work schedules because I honestly feel like I’m someone who would benefit from them. But I instead wind up at jobs where the attitude has been “8:00-5:00, 1-hour lunch break, 2 weeks vacation, 2 weeks sick time, and be happy you even get that.”