Friday, April 29, 2005

Compare and contrast: New Job vs. Old

I have been at the new job for only 2 weeks, so I can't exactly say I know everything about the place, but there are already some major differences between this place and the last one.

In convenient table form:
New JobOld Job

No questions asked when I requested active noise-canceling headphones to wear in the noisy server room.

When my phone headset broke, I couldn't order a new one because the company was no longer buying them for employees (never mind that 90% of meetings/customer interaction is via phone). I had to ship them back to the manufacturer to get them replaced, and even then I got an urgent email from my boss's boss's secretary demanding I explain the $5 UPS charge.

The building is relatively new, and looks nice from the outside and the inside. The inside is kept clean.

The building was a non-descript downtown Indianapolis building. The interior was reminiscent of a Gulag Inprocessing Center in some Eastern Bloc Regime. There was Cheetos dust on the floor from some guy who was in my cubicle in the 80's.

Employees receive a bonus every quarter when the company achieves its goals for that period.

Employees got a chump change $500 bonus after working 4 days of 12-hour shifts over a weekend while the union went out on a grandstanding strike.

I have met most of the people I work with/for in person and interact with them FTF on a daily basis.

I never met 95% of the people I worked with.

There's an exercise facility with free weights, machines, treadmills, elliptical trainers, and so on. If you want, you can have a trainer assigned to you who will help you meet your fitness goals.

No exercise room, but there is a locker/shower facility featuring posters of runners with 70s hair that runners use. Warm water is available more often than not, but wear flip-flops in the shower, b/c I think I picked up Plantar warts there.

Use of the exercise facilities is approved of and encouraged from the founder of the company on down.

Taking smoke breaks with the boss is the fast track up the corporate ladder.

There are more, but that's plenty for now.

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