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CHRISTMAS BONUS, 2010 STYLE

Discussion in 'Anything goes' started by Drip, Dec 3, 2010.

  1. BYH

    BYH Active Member

    Funny how that works.
     
  2. JackReacher

    JackReacher Well-Known Member

    Xmas bonuses are overrated. Gimme an annual raise and I'm happy. Keep your stupid Starbucks gift cards. Ever since I left the awful newspaper industry, though, I've gotten multiple random performance bonuses. I enjoyed that.

    My wife works for a private school, and she gets the most ridiculous Xmas gifts ever. Tons of cash and usually around $200 in gift cards to various places. And lots of baked goods. Mainly from the parents at the school; not the actual school administration.
     
  3. apeman33

    apeman33 Well-Known Member

    When our shop was a mom-and-pop, the publisher gave us all $200 bonuses every year.

    When we became corporate, that came to a stop. The first year, we got a company dinner at the local country club. The food sucked. The second year, our new publisher gave us a Hallmark card with $50 cash in it. Last year, I think she would have given us something on her own but higher-ups told her not to. This year, since this is the second year of a two-year wage freeze, she's trying to come up with something.

    She came in and asked me the other day if the employees would rather have a gift card from Grocery Store A, Grocery Store B or Walmart. I told her she probably ought to go with the Walmart cards. Get the ones with the Visa logos and you can use those anywhere like a debit card. She compensated me for missed vacation time I couldn't take by putting money on one of those while I was pulling double-duty as ME and SE most of last year. Thing is with the Walmart Visa cards is that you have to use them within one month of the purchase date or they take a $3 "maintenance fee" off them. Not that much if the card has a couple of hundred bucks. But I'm wagering she's thinking of $25 to $50 for each of us.
     
  4. Beef03

    Beef03 Active Member

    My first couple of stops I think I generally got a couple hundred bucks, but my current shop nothing. We do have a Christmas party but I've never been to it. I am the only one in editorial who doesn't go because I am the only one working, someone has to put the paper together on deadline. One of the sports guys is always on vacation and I think the other blows off whatever is happening and we rely on the wire unless he wrote something during the day, and me to catch whatever is phoned in. Apparently though at the party there is a gift draw, but you have to buy raffle tickets for the draw.
     
  5. Turtle Wexler

    Turtle Wexler Member

    I've never gotten a monetary bonus. I've gotten trinkets with the paper's logo, and last year there was a catered BBQ lunch. It was a nice idea, except our newsroom has a high percentage of vegetarians, so it ended up being very thoughtless.
     
  6. apeman33

    apeman33 Well-Known Member

    When my shop does a Christmas party, it's always on a Friday. They want me to be there, but, um, yeah, this is a high-school town, remember, guys?

    Last year, the publisher asked, "What can we do to get you there?" And I said, "Schedule it for a Saturday."

    So, of course, it was held on Friday.
     
  7. Starman

    Starman Well-Known Member

    After taking close to a 20% pay cut a year ago (plus layoffs), we got a memo in early October saying that 2% of that pay cut was being restored "at a date to be determined soon."

    Woohoo, but better than nothing. Then we get a memo in early November to the effect that the company also hoped to pay out "profit-sharing" checks amounting to a week's pay "before the end of the year."

    Again, woohoo, but certainly better than nothing, and essentially a "Christmas bonus." So everybody was reasonably happy.

    Well, this week we get a memo stating that "due to unanticipated accounting delays, compensation adjustments, if possible, are unlikely to take place until Q3 2011." (i.e. July.)

    This of course is the joint which as part of the restructuring last year, eliminated all paid vacations. You can still take time off if you want to (up to your level of vacation time) but it's unpaid. Probably 80% of the people in the joint haven't taken any.
     
  8. Baron Scicluna

    Baron Scicluna Well-Known Member

    First paper I worked at, we had a party at a very nice restaurant, and my boss bought me a couple of drinks.

    Another paper didn't really do anything, and a third paper did gift cards from a local sponsor.
     
  9. nmmetsfan

    nmmetsfan Active Member

    Can't get the revenue side to exceed the expense side. Why can't they just say that?
     
  10. murphyc

    murphyc Well-Known Member

    That it is NatureBoy, that it is.
     
  11. printdust

    printdust New Member

    I bet Donna Shalala, Gannett board member, got a nice Christmas bonus. From Gannett and the University of Miami.
     
  12. podunk press

    podunk press Active Member

    Wow. No paid vacation. I'd be trying to quit.

    We get no Christmas bonus. But we do get a paid day off. Honestly, I'd rather have the paid day off. So, winner.
     
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