Dyshow am I even using this gunRegistered Userregular
My workplace did something pretty neat for Thanksgiving this year. Normally there's a sign up for getting either a free turkey or a $25 gift card to the big local grocery store chain.
This year they just went "hey everyone, thanks for working hard and keeping things safe here during the pandemic" and just mailed everyone $100 gift cards instead.
My wife had an email from management at her work the other day.
To say thank you for working so hard during Covid they're buying their employees a jacket worth about £50! You don't get to choose the colour and its a company branded fleece.
They also got a jacket last year.
Just give her £50!
My workplace does that same damn thing, almost every year, and it's always company branded junk
Everyone wishes they would just give us $20, or like a $20 gift card for a grocery store
Every once in a while there will be a question on Ask A Manager from someone whose job it is to buy the company gift every year, complaining that all people want is money and that's not "personal" enough. Who the fuck cares, give people money, Karen!
My guess is that it's rooted in money - I'm not a CPA, but if I was to guess - when done right Company Branded Swag is, probably, tax deductible.
Direct cash to employee is never tax deducible for the business, and for the $20 the business needs to foot ~6% of the tax bill for social security minimum. However, if they wanted to be generous and have it be $20 net to the employee the company would need to pay ~$23ish for every $20.
I'd also guess that while the jacket may be valued at £50, that's not what the company is paying (economy of scale and all that). How bad would people feel if the company, as an expression of thanks and how much they valued employees, gave them £15 and told them it was worth £50?
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AthenorBattle Hardened OptimistThe Skies of HiigaraRegistered Userregular
HI THERE!
Why yes, I WOULD like to spend a week or so ripping out my hair because I can't get a program to connect properly, and in the end it was because the configuration file didn't end in a CRLF! And as a result it was misreading the end of file and the name of the server I was trying to connect to.
MrMonroepassed outon the floor nowRegistered Userregular
I actually think the branded jacket move is a good idea... as "extra credit" so to speak. If your team already feels respected and appropriately compensated and engaged in a shared mission, then by all means solidify that feeling with a free North Face or whatever and people will sincerely appreciate it and wear it proudly.
If you don't already have those things then folks will just resent you for it and it'll sit in everyone's closet collecting dust.
Oh hell no, our jackets are company branded, like "our" own company not like North Face or Patagonia or anything
The fleece we received a few years was so cheap as to be literally see through, the "coolers" we got aren't even insulated, they're literally PVC lunch bags
+14
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sponoMining for Nose DiamondsBooger CoveRegistered Userregular
We sometimes get decent stuff, usually branded with both our company logo and the logo of the re-branding company
One of those branded jackets is one of my favorite jackets to walk around smoking weed in. Just a little bit of brand damage for a place that laid me off as part of a batch layoff cause they totally fucked up tracking their Microsoft licenses and were about to get audited and hammered for overshooting their license agreement. (Pretty much every department was told to cut 2 employees, my department manager was not a fan of me cause i actually understood agile methodologies and would tell everyone when we were fuckin it up and would regularly agitate for collective action of not meeting deadlines he'd agreed to that QA had never actually been consulted on)
Sleep on
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sponoMining for Nose DiamondsBooger CoveRegistered Userregular
Does everyone else have sheets of nonsense notes in front of them at all times or is it just me?
Does everyone else have sheets of nonsense notes in front of them at all times or is it just me?
I've got a journal on my desk for that exact reason, otherwise it would be nothing but scrap paper all over the place. Then I only have one sticky note app on my desktop that has the main things for me to remember
I immediately donate whatever workplace branded merch I receive, I guess I am still giving the workplace free PR, but I'll be damned if I want to think about my workplace when I'm not there
I don't want to think about it when I'm on the clock getting paid, I certainly don't want the brand infiltrating my personal life anymore than it already does
To be honest, I work for a rural healthcare system, and that system is like the only place to receive healthcare in my geographic area, and their spun off insurance is the only decent insurance, and their spun off mail order pharmacy is the only decent pharmacy around
So I already feel like I'm in hopelessly surrounded
Don't know how you got that idea. I'm judging all of you constantly.
i judge brovid's tiny little dino arms all the time
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AthenorBattle Hardened OptimistThe Skies of HiigaraRegistered Userregular
Right before I left my previous job, they sprung for some very nice polos. Unfortunately they were embroidered with the company logo. They were meant to be a quasi-uniform, because the bosses wanted uniforms and we didn't.
So I got not only mine, but also a coworker who got fired between ordering the shirts and them arriving.
I've kept the majority of them, and keep telling myself that I can rip out the embroidery and they'd be perfectly servicable! But... I dunno. Bad memories, plus the fact that the embroidery has probably permanently scarred the shirts by now.
Librarian's ghostLibrarian, Ghostbuster, and TimSporkRegistered Userregular
Sometimes it is beneficial to have a science teacher teaching out of the library. Like today where I went around to various rooms with an articulated skeleton arm to ask if anyone needed a hand with anything.
I know I got lucky with my job. My company is pretty great with little gifts. I have 3 jackets, two laptop bags/backpacks, and a bunch of other swag. They're sturdy and when I was taking the bus I preferred them in case something gross got on me.
I also have $300 to use to improve my work from home situation that will be reimbursed once I decide what to buy. Plus they revamped our WFH policy for the future when we can actually go into the office.
FishmanPut your goddamned hand in the goddamned Box of Pain.Registered Userregular
The best company gift I ever got was one of those portable outdoor folding chairs with a carry bag and an extra large beach towel.
This makes more sense in NZ, where Christmas marks the start of the summer weather and there are 5-6 public holiday days between Christmas and the first week of Feb.
The beach towel lasted about 10 years; the chair 15; and I still use the chair carry bag 20 years later to tote around its replacement when heading out to sports days, BBQ's, or the beach.
From my camp years I've got a branded duffel bag I use all the time, an awesome microfiber towel for camping and such that is wonderful, some Nalgene bottles I also use all the time, and a fleece jacket that I got for my 5th summer working the camp that is still comfy and warm.
There were other things too, but those are the things I use all the time.
JedocIn the scupperswith the staggers and jagsRegistered Userregular
Current work status: the Zoom meeting tech demo has been completely derailed by a backchannel group text trying to figure out why the icon is so weirdly stacked.
Ugh, LinkedIn just reminded me I've been at my company 16 years. I feel old. Also fortunate for having lots of internal opportunity.
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AthenorBattle Hardened OptimistThe Skies of HiigaraRegistered Userregular
I feel really, really disgraced right now.
I'm trying to set up this archaic Rocket Unidata connection so I can see what our data analyst teams are gonna pull out of the system. It's totally hodgepodge'd together, but it has been working for a few years.
Typically it uses an ODBC connection into a virtual SQL Schema. Well, my preferred SQL IDE doesn't do ODBC, because java. So I tried looking at how to do it with JDBC, and I gave up way too fast.
I'm trying to set up this archaic Rocket Unidata connection so I can see what our data analyst teams are gonna pull out of the system. It's totally hodgepodge'd together, but it has been working for a few years.
Typically it uses an ODBC connection into a virtual SQL Schema. Well, my preferred SQL IDE doesn't do ODBC, because java. So I tried looking at how to do it with JDBC, and I gave up way too fast.
I have a company logo black fleece jacket that is just the best. Perfect for throwing on when I'm a little chilly, or layering under a jacket for extra insulation. Soft and basically indestructible. I used it to catch a bird once.
I "won" it in a company carnival event that was actually pretty fun! The games were, like, kids' party games (balloon darts and such) plus an honest to goodness roulette wheel. The prizes were mostly leftover bits of swag from who knows when. The fleece jacket was the only one on the table, and I suspect it was there because it's a size small. I'm a tiny person so it happened to fit me perfectly.
edit: that company was always good about gifts, though. If we got shirts, it was because they wanted to take a company photo. Once a year or so they'd do a random drawing where two or three people would get, like, a tablet or a smart speaker or something, and everyone else would get gift cards for local chain restaurants.
Calica on
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JedocIn the scupperswith the staggers and jagsRegistered Userregular
Forgive me if the answer is obvious, but...why did you need to catch a bird in your fleece?
Forgive me if the answer is obvious, but...why did you need to catch a bird in your fleece?
Heh. I volunteer on and off at a parrot rescue. A bird escaped its cage, like they do occasionally. All the birds have their wings clipped for their own safety - they can fly enough to control their descent, but they can't fly level or gain altitude. Since they can't get airborne once grounded, one of the easiest ways to catch them before they hide under the nearest cage/furniture is to throw a towel on top of them. It doesn't hurt them, they immediately stop moving because they can't see, and you can pick them up and simultaneously bundle them in the towel without getting bitten.
I didn't have a towel handy, so I took off my fleece and threw that :biggrin:
+3
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MrMonroepassed outon the floor nowRegistered Userregular
I'm trying to set up this archaic Rocket Unidata connection so I can see what our data analyst teams are gonna pull out of the system. It's totally hodgepodge'd together, but it has been working for a few years.
Typically it uses an ODBC connection into a virtual SQL Schema. Well, my preferred SQL IDE doesn't do ODBC, because java. So I tried looking at how to do it with JDBC, and I gave up way too fast.
Posts
This year they just went "hey everyone, thanks for working hard and keeping things safe here during the pandemic" and just mailed everyone $100 gift cards instead.
I'd also guess that while the jacket may be valued at £50, that's not what the company is paying (economy of scale and all that). How bad would people feel if the company, as an expression of thanks and how much they valued employees, gave them £15 and told them it was worth £50?
Why yes, I WOULD like to spend a week or so ripping out my hair because I can't get a program to connect properly, and in the end it was because the configuration file didn't end in a CRLF! And as a result it was misreading the end of file and the name of the server I was trying to connect to.
Man. I hate doing software archaeology.
If you don't already have those things then folks will just resent you for it and it'll sit in everyone's closet collecting dust.
The fleece we received a few years was so cheap as to be literally see through, the "coolers" we got aren't even insulated, they're literally PVC lunch bags
I've got a journal on my desk for that exact reason, otherwise it would be nothing but scrap paper all over the place. Then I only have one sticky note app on my desktop that has the main things for me to remember
I don't know, after the whole cookie story I am unsure of your weed company's cred.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lowboy_(trailer)
I don't want to think about it when I'm on the clock getting paid, I certainly don't want the brand infiltrating my personal life anymore than it already does
To be honest, I work for a rural healthcare system, and that system is like the only place to receive healthcare in my geographic area, and their spun off insurance is the only decent insurance, and their spun off mail order pharmacy is the only decent pharmacy around
So I already feel like I'm in hopelessly surrounded
It's also one of the only places to work!
Fuck!
I mean, the vendors we sell, not my actual company
But also I forget this cookie story (or rather, which cookie story?!)
The plates of uneaten cookies in your breakroom and seemingly general aversion to good munchies
-JACK'S BEING SERVICED
-NO JAMIE
-LOW BOY
-FUCKBED BED V DOVE NO SOUND
man what the hell are you getting up to on the weekends
That boy?
Low.
it was just a question from, shall we say, an interested party
i judge brovid's tiny little dino arms all the time
So I got not only mine, but also a coworker who got fired between ordering the shirts and them arriving.
I've kept the majority of them, and keep telling myself that I can rip out the embroidery and they'd be perfectly servicable! But... I dunno. Bad memories, plus the fact that the embroidery has probably permanently scarred the shirts by now.
I also have $300 to use to improve my work from home situation that will be reimbursed once I decide what to buy. Plus they revamped our WFH policy for the future when we can actually go into the office.
Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better
bit.ly/2XQM1ke
I was actually looking through old notes earlier today and realized about 1/5th of this notebook is old KSP mission plans.
This makes more sense in NZ, where Christmas marks the start of the summer weather and there are 5-6 public holiday days between Christmas and the first week of Feb.
The beach towel lasted about 10 years; the chair 15; and I still use the chair carry bag 20 years later to tote around its replacement when heading out to sports days, BBQ's, or the beach.
There were other things too, but those are the things I use all the time.
I'm trying to set up this archaic Rocket Unidata connection so I can see what our data analyst teams are gonna pull out of the system. It's totally hodgepodge'd together, but it has been working for a few years.
Typically it uses an ODBC connection into a virtual SQL Schema. Well, my preferred SQL IDE doesn't do ODBC, because java. So I tried looking at how to do it with JDBC, and I gave up way too fast.
So now I'm having to open Access....
*shudder*
How does a SQL IDE not do ODBC?
I "won" it in a company carnival event that was actually pretty fun! The games were, like, kids' party games (balloon darts and such) plus an honest to goodness roulette wheel. The prizes were mostly leftover bits of swag from who knows when. The fleece jacket was the only one on the table, and I suspect it was there because it's a size small. I'm a tiny person so it happened to fit me perfectly.
edit: that company was always good about gifts, though. If we got shirts, it was because they wanted to take a company photo. Once a year or so they'd do a random drawing where two or three people would get, like, a tablet or a smart speaker or something, and everyone else would get gift cards for local chain restaurants.
Heh. I volunteer on and off at a parrot rescue. A bird escaped its cage, like they do occasionally. All the birds have their wings clipped for their own safety - they can fly enough to control their descent, but they can't fly level or gain altitude. Since they can't get airborne once grounded, one of the easiest ways to catch them before they hide under the nearest cage/furniture is to throw a towel on top of them. It doesn't hurt them, they immediately stop moving because they can't see, and you can pick them up and simultaneously bundle them in the towel without getting bitten.
I didn't have a towel handy, so I took off my fleece and threw that :biggrin:
DataGrip, yo
*swears on the JetBrains EULA"