CHRISTMAS BONUS, 2010 STYLE

I remember someone telling me that when they worked at The National, they got one month's pay as a Christmas bonus.

 

Not quite true but there was a nice bonus.

 

Google Employees got a $1,000 bonus (after taxes) and a 10 percent pay increase.

 

The boss gives us a gift card for $30.
I am constantly surprised at the people in my office that bicker about the low amount of the gift. I'm like Have you seen the newspaper industry lately? Be thankful we have an office to come to still get two-weeks paid vacation, no furloughs and have only lost three employees due to layoffs (company wide all departments) in the past three years.
I'm not saying 30 is much, but it could be worse, and I doubt it's going to get any better if we stay in newspapers.

But yeah, one of the best bonuses was a major paper that used to pay a bonus of 1-10 percent of your salary, depending on the profits of the paper. This was a couple decades back, and I was a part timer (about 36 hours a week) making about 20K a year. Gotta a bonus of nearly 2k the best year there. Made Christmas shopping easier.

 

Sounds like the Simpsons episode when Homer puts the coupon for Shake 'n Bake in the collection plate.

 

WTF. I'm still hung up on this one. Like, HOW MINIATURE?

I started here the first week in December 23 years ago and was astonished to get a bonus check equaling a week's pay with, I think, my second paycheck. In the last 5-10 years, not so much. I think we got a check last year, but it's been so sporadic, it's impossible to remember for sure.

 

At the first shop I worked at, we had a great holiday party. Happy hour turned into happy night because the publisher would get so drunk he'd keep the bar open for everyone. Also had one of those casino deals where you would turn in your "money" during an auction. Even got a $5 Walmart gift card one year.

Now we have lame parties, often during times when the sports department can't make it like tomorrow. They suck. Food is average, no happy hour, no nothing. If I got so much as a Christmas thank-you email, I'd probably have a heart attack.

 

About the size of a coffee Thermos.

 

It should be noted, the miniature fire extinguishers were a gift from the same family-owned company that invited employees to their Christmas party ... to work as valets.

 

Well, that's some pretty great shit. I was wondering how a regulation kitchen-sized extinguisher was considered "miniature' (I was expecting some super-compressed Bondian pen-sized ass-kicking gizmo). The valet angle just adds an element that is exquisite in its tackiness.