Fringe benefits of your job

[jmendez29]

I work on the eastern coast of Lake Michigan. Right on the beach. I love looking out over the water around sunset. Especially when I've had a stressful day. That is the best perk about my job.

 

[OrdinaryAvgGuy]

Not having a boss or schedule in addition to unlimited vacation days if I so desire.

 

[Zuljin]

Im a deli clerk so i cant really think of anything thats a perk, unless you count getting yelled at because some ahole's sandwich meat is cut to a hair to thick

I've never had my sandwich meat or cheese sliced wrong. And I do like it thin. It was a deli counter that turned me onto that.

We get food a lot at work. Lunch meetings. Snacks at meetings. One of us brings in food. Food just shows up.

I get all the live red worms and water fleas my fish tank can eat. Tetras love those things.

Plenty minnows for fish bait too.

I'd tell yall about the little odds and ends scrap material that comes in handy, but that never happens.

 

[edds5p0]

I work in a QC lab at a company that makes flavors and fragrances. The best part is that I get to play with analytical equipment like GCs. I don't have to sit at my desk much and I get to smell wonderful things all day.

 

[Ply318ci]

I work in a aftermarket dirt bike company designing oversized gas tanks for dirt bikes. Get all kinds of cool motorcycle stuff for free or incredibly cheap us one of the guys I work with is a ace mechanic and does work on my bike or gives me advice for free so that is awesome. Changing careers to get back into teaching. I worked as a private Christian school teacher for 6 years thought changing careers would be fun but I like teaching more so getting my credentials.

 

[liquiditynerd]

hey G-Love I taught at our tech as well. Good times but the pay sucked. I run my own show and I guess in response to your first question is that I have alot of freaking tools to play with for brewing. I also have just about as much oak and other hardwoods i can use for conditioning. Even given coopering a thought or two. Other than that nope no perks just work, but thats what I get paid for. Oh and people think Im busy when I check HBT, kinda a good "sorry I have to respond to this" moment

 

[liquiditynerd]

I manage a truck and equipment business. When we get oddball packages in I can sometimes snag some sweet equipment really cheap. I got a Lincoln Powermig 255 for $150 a few months back. I also can throw my dealer plate on any truck I want to drive so I can keep the miles off my personal truck. My company covers all of my expenses when I'm traveling to look at equipment, been all over the country. I have freedom to use our equipment and trailers as needed.

yea cause i think I dropped $550 on that bad boy

 

[distributistdad]

I started my own internet company seven years ago. About a year ago, I quit my office job and am 100% self-employed.

The nature of the work is that you can work as much or as little as you want and working a lot will reap continued benefits. As such, I work when I want and I play games with my kids, brew beer, play golf, etc. when I want. If any of you all are thinking about trying to pull the trigger and go self-employed I say go for it. It is a TON of work, but the freedom is definitely worth it.

 

[kaboom133]

I work at a bar that specializes in craft beers. I get to try samples of all kinds of beers trying to get us to carry their beer, plus I get sweet beer swag.

My boss lets me brew in the kitchen with his 20 gallon pot and 300,000 btu gas burner... Blichmann what???? phhtt

The best part though is the free 5 gallon clear foodsafe hdpe containers that our fryer oil comes in. They make great fermentors or no-chill containers.

On top of this, I work 3 days a week. That leaves a lot of family and brewing time for me!

This all almost outweighs the lack of healthcare and other benifits.

 

[xtian116]

Guess someone has to be the first. I'm what a ton of people consider a "white trash" mechanic. What they don't realize is, I'm actually putting myself through school to get my degree in Electronics Engineering. I'm not the dirty guy under the hood. I do all the computer stuff. ABS, A/C, body and power train controls.

I get guys to work on my old cars, (the dirty stuff) for basically free. They have no idea how easy it is to reprogram or flash a PCM. They think I have magic powers. I also get free, or close to, body work, so I go through a ton of cars. Buy them, fix them, sell them. Usually, I just get asked somewhere if it's for sale, don't even have to advertise. (Usually at work)

Extremely cheap auto parts.
Use the brake lathe (for all kinds of odd stuff)
Paid by the job, so if I don't feel like working hard, I don't have to.
Free towing

That's about it. Soon, all that will be behind me! Can't wait to switch careers. Been on disability for 6 months due to a work injury, it sucks! One surgery down, recovery and physical therapy, now it looks like another one is happening soon too.

 

[ckcanady]

I am a draft beer technician. I install many of the draft systems in Northern California. I also help run the special events department. I have easy access to everything draft and many portable draft beer systems. I also have a lot of access to information as I know many different breweries and their brewers.

 

[sweetcell]

Guess someone has to be the first. I'm what a ton of people consider a "white trash" mechanic.

doesn't get dirty, works with electronics? sounds more like a white collar mechanic...

 

[g-love]

doesn't get dirty, works with electronics? sounds more like a white collar mechanic...

Agreed man. I started off working on cars before getting my degree and going another route. I still love working on cars and my best friend is a mechanic (owns his own shop) making more than I ever will as a teacher. A good wrench is invaluable and you guys have access to tons of cool stuff.

I think you're being to hard on yourself.

 

[xtian116]

It's not all that bad, people around here just assume you're stupid or something if you work on cars. I kind of enjoy it, but would rather not do it the rest of my life. Plus after GM started to go under about 7 years ago, no benefits.

 

[daksin]

I'm a professional paycheck thief, so there's that. I work for a scientific equipment manufacturer, so I get all the free stir bars I can carry and access to tons of free scientific surplus junk I can futz around with on weekends.

I literally don't do anything here but send a couple emails a day and browse HBT and work on stuff for the real brewery for the other 7 hours. I've been here 3 years and my boss thinks I'm doing a great job (3 raises and 3 big xmas bonuses) so you just can't complain. Full medical/dental for me and my wife, too. Awesome.

 

[DogFace_Brewing]

Well let's see

*I work for a wireless carrier...no I don't work in a cell phone store . So I have 7 cell phones in my family and a hotspot and with all smartphones unlimited everything I pay $125 a month
*I can work from home
*I get 29 days vacation per year plus 8 holidays paid off
*matching 401k
*awesome health/dental/vision package
*and mostly a very stress free job that I get paid VERY well to do!

 

[wbyrd01]

I work for a copy machine sales company so I get to make free copies of my beer recipes.

 

[raabs]

Music promotion/marketing. Things could be worse than working in a house with thousands of cd's and records as wall decor at your disposal. Apparently the worst thing that can happen is I listen to some amazing albums dozens of times before they get released...other than having to be at work early enough to work with east coast morning people. Everyone has their own definition of success.

 

[xtian116]

Music promotion/marketing. Things could be worse than working in a house with thousands of cd's and records as wall decor at your disposal. Apparently the worst thing that can happen is I listen to some amazing albums dozens of times before they get released...other than having to be at work early enough to work with east coast morning people. Everyone has their own definition of success.

Man I miss those days! I work for a band that got signed back in the '90s, got to spend a ton of time at Trauma and Zoo. I loved having free access to new stuff and free concert tickets.

 

[Darwin18]

The environmental consulting company I work for does a lot of groundwater sampling using low flow techniques. There are literally thousands of feet of extra plastic tubing and silicone tubing laying around that gather dust in the warehouse. I've never paid for tubing to transfer finished beer or to make blow off tubes.

 

[diodeart]

28 days personal and vacation time for the year
9 paid holidays
22% off cell phone service
Vested employer accumulating pension
Vested 401k with matching employer contributions
$2000 bonus if we bring in a new high level employee
100% paid college classes if it pertains to furthering our career
I get to play on the internet
Sometimes, we get free breakfast or lunch
I can use the company UPS account to ship beer
Free boxes and stuffing material to pack the beer

Everything else about it sucks though Trust me, the bad outweighs the good. I've become too comfortable to look for another job... But I should!!

Holy crap. I don't even know what alot of that means, I've never been given a benefit in my life. I'm a remodeler, so i make my own schedule. I can take time off as much as i want, but don't make any money if i'm not phsyically working.
I've learned how to plumb, wire, frame, build cabinets, make concrete countertops, make light fixtures and furniture, pour a slab, install tile, install doors and windows, replumb and move a boiler, roof a house, build a deck, etc.
I've been at it for 34 years and made an effort to learn all that i can. So i have alot of variety in my day. Some days i get a really good work out in. Nice to have all the tools i need to build all of my ghetto brewery stuff. And i usually have the widgets and dewhickeys laying around. Can't weld (yet), so ashamed.

 

[SmokeNbrew]

Im a plumber. I play in poop. Find the sunny side in that...

 

[landshark]

Im a plumber. I play in poop. Find the sunny side in that...

People might flush a diamond ring?

 

[PDX_T]

Tons of free beer.

 

[SmokeNbrew]

People might flush a diamond ring?

haha, yeah. Literally, the pot o' gold...

 

[Erroneous]

Im a plumber. I play in poop. Find the sunny side in that...

Well if you ever need to go rims then being a plumber ain't so bad.

 

[Gitmoe]

I work at a LHBS so I get all brewing related items extremely cheap. Go to beerfests for free, know all the local brewery owners/brewers, and get to make beer at work. I stand around and talk beer/wine making all day with customers and coworkers. I'm also a freelance graphic designer so I work from home for that mostly. It's a crazy unpredictable sort of life but it's fun and exciting. I keep telling my wife I'll eventually grow up...

 

[VApatriot]

I do very little and get to read this website during the day and get paid a bucket-load of money!

So let me guess - you either work directly for the government, lobbiest firm, or for a government contractor, right?

 

[edmanster]

I work in medical manufacturing doing polymerization and extrusion. I make our proprietary resins from polyoils running all processes up to the point it becomes the tubing used for IV catheters (the piece of tube that goes into your vein).. I'm kinda a Jack of all trades in the department and fix most the equipment when it breaks down.. I've gotten gram scales (three beam and digital) stainless fittings (compression, tri clover ect) electronics (PID's, ss relays etc) desks, shelves, chairs ect.. they do lots of exchanging new equipment for old so I usually get to break down the electrical cabinets for lots of extra parts..

 

[SmokeNbrew]

Well if you ever need to go rims then being a plumber ain't so bad.

That is one nice thing. I can't complain really. Access to whatever I need material wise and I constantly squirrel away like-new parts from repairs. Things like gas valves, controls, burner assemblies etc. from boilers.