Cindy

Droog

Read Cindy's bio and previous columns

March 5, 2009

On-the-Job Amusement Comes In All Sizes

Size matters.

I’ve worked at companies with thousands of employees spanning the globe. I’ve worked at a three-person shop where our CEO did the dishes every Friday afternoon. I’ve worked at publicly held vs. private shops, solo mio as a freelancer, and at just about every kind of operation in between.

Since my primary career goal is to actually enjoy what I’m being paid to do (gasp!), I thought I’d share my perspective on the most entertaining aspects of each. After all, the benefit of amusement is not something to be taken lightly – especially when the cost of your other benefits continues to rise.

Here is what I find enjoyable about companies of various sizes.

Only at a large, multi-national company can you play Euchre on the corporate jet. I believe the folks at Boeing – even though Euchre’s more of a Midwest phenomenon – must appreciate the irony of a spirited match where you get to tell your boss something you’ve always wanted to say: “Thanks, but I’ll go this one alone.”

Yet at a small start-up company, it would not be unusual to see the person with the most important title on her business card taking the trash down to the dumpster on her way home.

I liked that. There’s something very satisfying knowing that everyone really is pitching in – no pun intended. Besides, it doesn’t make you feel so bad when you wield your own spackle and paint to fix the hole you made when you threw a paperweight against the wall in agony over having not one single person to delegate a big mailing to.

And my favorite thing about the 20-40 person shops I’ve worked at was – hands down – the Christmas parties.

When the company is too small, what good is the Christmas party? You don’t have stories to catch up on – you’ve breathed right next to those people all day. Plus, you know you can’t really afford it, so you feel too guilty to order the expensive menu items.

When the company is too large, it’s even worse. I barely enjoy sharing the Christmas spirit with anyone outside my immediately family, much less people who don’t say hello in the hallway.

I believe the whole purpose of the large company Christmas party is to see who everyone is married to or dating. The one cute guy in IT? Already know he’s gay. The one I see at the gym all the time? His wife is Jillian Michaels’s twin, minus the low-slung camouflage pants.

The big company Christmas party is an obligation, not a celebration.

But at a mid-sized company, oh yeah! Bring it on! You know everyone too well to embarrass yourself – so have that third martini. The gifts are usually perfect – not so big as to guilt you into staying through mid-year when you’d planned to indulge your right-to-work elsewhere by February, but not so small as to end up in the keepsake shoebox under your bed, only to be discovered and discarded years later.

Not to mention, if the party is at the owner’s house, you even get to indulge your inner stalker on that “needed” trip to the ladies’ room.

While working at a large public company, I enjoyed the freedom to force others to think about what their decisions would look like if recorded, which they probably would be. At a large private company, you and someone in another department can pay for the same service from two different vendors – in my experience, for up to two years – before deciding which one to let stick around.

Good times.

As a freelancer, benefits include getting your daily dose of online comedy without wearing your headphones in case someone drops the “f” bomb, and cutting your toenails during conference calls.

I also – as one of my very first jobs in life – worked at an amusement park, where of course, amusement was the whole point. I fit right in.

And while I didn’t enjoy cleaning up people’s vomit, it prepared me for seeing the bright side of every single job I’ve had since – and hopefully, helping you to do the same.

© 2009 North Star Writers Group. May not be republished without permission.

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