New Job! New Perks!

The perks at the old job were the best I had ever seen. Not so good for the girlish figure, but yummy to my tummy! (Daily lunch, free vending machine, espresso machines, popular sodas, fruit 2x/week, etc.)

I was very sad to leave the daily lunch benefit. You don’t realize how much of a pain in the ass lunch is when the only lunch worry everyday is making sure you order what you want by the daily cut-off time. Now I have to plan for lunch by either bringing it, wrangling people to take me to places, or (GASP!) going out on my own to find the good eateries.

At past jobs, lunch was the highlight of my day. Around 10:30am I’d start bugging my usual lunch buddies about what to do about lunch. If they brought theirs or where we could get a cheap bite, or do we want to venture out and have a real lunch. Lunch was easier to deal with when I worked in the SF financial district. All the great lunch places were there, from the cheap to the fancy and every type of cuisine you could ask for.

At the new gig, we aren’t really close to anything except Chili’s. I hear there is a Mollie Stone within walking distance up the hill by the GAP headquarters, but I haven’t explored that area yet. Maybe today I’ll go solo. I hear there is a tasty sushi place and a crepe place too.

Also, being the newbie on the block, I haven’t quite found my crowd yet. Sure I have some old friends that work here (what software job doesn’t come along without a referral?), but I don’t want these friends to feel like they have to include me in on all of their plans. I’d like to branch out and find some new buddies. I’m used to hanging out with a bunch of tech geeks, but this company is full of ultra-geeks and very highly dominated by the male gender.

Now about the perks that I have discovered…

• I didn’t loose out on the 2x/week fruit delivery, they have that here too (but its just Safeway Apples, oranges & bananas)
• Krispy Kreme doughnuts on Wednesday (and yes I have 2 at my desk now – ok now there is only 1) -- update -- doughnuts are all gone now and I just looked up the calorie count... 500 calories for the two of them. I guess I'll be walking to get a lovely salad for lunch today.
• Peet’s Coffee
• Good Tea selections
• Free soft drinks – and a HUGE selection of them
• Milk delivery every other day
• Bagel’s on Friday
• Beer Bash social hour on Friday afternoons
• Access to the business park’s gym & showers
• Dry Cleaning pick-up
• FREE PARKING – ok, some people don’t understand what a great perk this is, but after working in SF for 6 years, this will be a great $$ savings for when I drive to work
• Cool old school video arcade machine with every old timey arcade game you could think of - yes I am still a geek, just not an ultra-geek

But the ultimate benefit that only women can appreciate:

• FREE Feminine Hygiene products machines!

That’s right ladies, no more having to run back to your desk when you’re coming out of a 2 hour long meeting where you drank so much water to keep you entertained you think you might burst!

Ok, maybe not all of you can appreciate this, but this is a HUGE deal for me. Hehe