Ha!

It is apparently National Fun At Work Day which means some sort of Zoom social where we are encouraged to have a fun background. My first inclination is to just not attend because it's more Zoom but I don't actually have much work to do this morning so maybe I will spend some time looking for backgrounds. Any suggestions?

Hahah also they can give you a new one if they think it’s too old…

I am going to hit 10 years at my job in March (!!) and just got the “pick a present from the catalog” email. It’s SO WEIRD. Anything from a company pin, to various watches and jewelry, to a globe…to a pressure washer or AirPods. Wtf. I am not sure what to get—I definitely don’t want any of the jewelry, but the cookware isn’t quite what I’d want. Maybe the speaker? I would never use it, but…ugh. For my five year I think I chose a wallet and promptly never ever used it (it was a $100 wallet but somehow really crappy quality)

We just had a survey of what kind of gifts we want for those things, meara. I hit 10 years next year, and I put down that I want a leather jacket because that's what they used to give people at 10 years (although I guess you could also get luggage of some sort or just a gift card) and I am weirdly fond of stuff with the company logo on it. Got a jacket for 5 years, basically a water resistant shell with a zip out fleece lining, it's a pretty nice jacket and I wear it a lot. I checked off gift cards for the other milestones, except for the one pretty high # of years that had an Apple Watch as an option, because I still feel like watches are the traditional reward for long service. I guess I got that from stories about railroad workers? No one I actually know has been given a watch, I don't think, but I do have it in my head as a thing that happens or should happen.

Now I'm wondering if we supply the cookware you are offered - "loyalty programs" are under my domain but those mostly seem to be casinos offering prizes for reward points or something.

Maybe, t! It was cuisinart. I do need new pots and pans but these have solid tops rather than glass, so not sure they’d be my jam??

Ah, cuisinart is not ours, so no. I hear you on the glass lids, I like to see what's going on.

-t, I can send you some backgrounds I use. Some astronomical ones, one from Yellowstone with a bison, one from the Griffith observatory, one from a trellis at the Huntington Library....

I like them myself, but I don't know if they would count as "fun."

The only time I got one of those anniversary gift choices, I got jewelry that I could sell. All I want from a company is cash and benefits.

Sure, I'll take those, dcp! Even if they are not "fun" for the purposes of this thing, they sound nice for my general use. I haven't had any luck finding anything appealing to my sense of fun-ness via google...

What I really want from my company is a raise that is higher than inflation, and not just every 5 years or whatever, but that is hardly an option. And I recently remembered that they used to match up to some percentage of our retirement withholding but they "temporarily" stopped matching a few years back and I don't think they are ever going to restart that will just kind of disappear and fade from memory and I'm kind of mad about it because that was a big selling point when I was hired that we were 100% vested in the matching funds after 3 years. Oh well.

-t, insent to gmail address I had for you. Should I re-send to your profile address?