working title

Perks

One of the best things about working for the temp agency was that I had to take public transportation. It probably kept me from getting some jobs that weren’t accessible by bus or train, but most of my jobs I could get to by taking the train. The good thing was that the closest train station was almost one mile away. I didn’t have my driver’s license and my husband worked a different shift, so I had to walk that distance once on the way to work and once on the way home. As all of my temp jobs involved sitting at a cubicle for 8 hours per day, this was the only exercise I got all day long. It kept me from gaining too much weight, which is a big downfall of office jobs.

The good thing about working in a deli or in customer service is that you’re generally on your feet for your whole shift. With the deli, I did a lot of lifting and moving so much so that I didn’t have to do any extra exercise after or before I worked. But then you rarely get breaks during those jobs, so it’s easier to burn out. Standing (or sitting) for long periods of time can be a strain on a bad back like mine. My ideal job would be a mixture of the two, but I have yet to find one like that.

I have to say that one of the best perks of an office job is the coffee. I was totally shocked at one of my office jobs to see that they had no coffeemaker in the building! Most offices offer free coffee to employees and a few even take donations or charge a small fee for coffee, but most HAVE a coffee machine. I should have known that place wasn’t going to be any good from the fact that it didn’t offer coffee.

My ideal job would also have a gym membership as a perk. One job where I worked had a wellness program, which involved a contest with pedometers, meant to motivate workers to move more. Thing was, the job was already pretty taxing, so it wasn’t exactly necessary to get us to take more steps. Not many people took the time to get out and walk outside of work. My location didn’t win obviously, no matter how much encouraging and cheerleading I did (you can bet I was on their committee for wellness!), so I don’t think it was exactly a success.