Ask HN: What's the most unique job perk you've had?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41140978

by AlwaysNewb23 • 2 years ago

26 27 2 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

PaulHoule• 2 years ago

Don't know how unique it was but I worked mostly remote for a startup that was based in a mansion in the Hollywood Hills. I remember waiting for the bathroom with the project manager downstairs one Friday evening (partying, not working) looking at the OSHA safety sign while people were jumping into the wrong end of the pool upstairs.

toomuchtodo• 2 years ago

Had access to high end vehicles the owner of the company owned.

ilkhan4• 2 years ago

Not all that crazy but I worked for a high-end golf community for a short time. We had free lunch in the building catered in by the (really nice) restaurants, but could also eat at those restaurants (dine in or takeout) for half price. I had many a $7 lunch and a few $20 filet dinners while I was there. We could also get free tee times on the golf courses as long as they didn't conflict with the members, but I'm not a golfer so never took them up on that.

h2odragon2• 2 years ago

Unlimited mice.

Sometimes helped the folks who ran a rodent ranch that supplied feeder mice and rats etc to much of Chicago. they necessarily had a relaxed attitude towards inventory shrinkage and and explicit employee discount of 100%.

No restocking fees either.

Peroni• 2 years ago

Congrats on being the blatantly clear winner of this thread and for forcing me to consider what I would/could do with an infinite supply of mice. Curious to know how many mice you availed of during your time?

h2odragon2• 2 years ago

i had a line of fancy mice for a while there, I'd borrow pretty calico studs from their stock on occasion.

I think i actually gave them more than I took, all told.

everybody working there seemed to have a "you have a problem" grade pet habit. I didn't even have hardly any snakes or anything then.

mtmail• 2 years ago

Company suddenly started valet parketing, I felt special. Real reason was they didn't have enough parking spots and that was the only way to park more cars in the same space.

BTW having a pinball machine sounds great, until your office is located right next to it for months.

litoE• 2 years ago

Worked in the computer department of a swimming suit manufacturer. One day they came looking for a male, waist size 32, to model the new line for some visiting big shots. I was the only one that fit those requirements and I got to meet all the professional female models they kept on staff.

timonoko• 2 years ago

I was hired "not to die". I was testing maritime survival equipment. I got new one for free when it broke down and I did not die. When the unit lasted 100 days the project was over.

solardev• 2 years ago

One job Doordashed free lunches for everyone in the office every day. Gained like 10 lbs working there. They treated us well and also hosted occasional outings, like rafting trips, group mountain bike rides, and picnics. Then they were bought out by a bigger company and the benefits disappeared one by one, and almost everyone was laid off.

At another job, I worked at a museum and got free reciprocal/courtesy entry to many museums across the world. That was sweet, being able to visit all the big ones that normally cost a hefty chunk of change.

These days, just being able to work remotely and set my own part-time schedule. My partner's job is stationary, or we'd be traveling the world constantly and doing the whole digital nomad thing.

nvllsvm• 2 years ago

Two tube slides that went from the second floor to the lobby.

https://web.archive.org/web/20240802221354/https://media.biz...

JSDevOps• 2 years ago

a certain “big corp” (I won’t name names) staff enjoy incredible perks, including completely free dental care with no questions asked. In the UK, they have an exceptional corporate rate for David Lloyd gym, far surpassing typical discounts, likely due to sharing the same office campus. Employees can order virtually anything through a breakout store, delivered anywhere in the world—even a 3D printer in Brazil. This, however, became a slight issue during the pandemic when someone asked on an 8,000-strong Slack channel about ordering office furniture for home, leading to a surge in worldwide requests. They had to send a message out saying speak to your line manager and local office and if you want anything from the offices go and help yourself since they were shut anyway. Also if you work on certain parts of the cloud team you get to create and spin up whatever you want for “testing”.

comprev• 2 years ago

I worked in the classical streaming music industry and "Friday afternoon drinks" was often a 6-piece orchestra coupled with a handful of (opera) singers - with their music composed by another team member. The majority of employees were trained musicians.

No other post-work Friday office drinks experience comes close!

BWStearns• 2 years ago

Worked on a billionaires yacht when I was a kid. It always had to be stocked in case they showed up but they hardly ever did. So we had to eat all the lobster and steak before it went bad, and the owner’s chef made the meals for practice and experimenting. I’ve never worked at FAANG but I’d be shocked if anyone south of the C suite had as good office lunch on a regular basis.

a3n• 2 years ago

At 17, I was a lot boy at a motorcycle dealer. Push the bikes out, push the bikes in, gopher this and that.

Sometimes after work the mechanics would get me high, and we'd sit out back and watch the ocean.

It was nice.

andrei_says_• 2 years ago

So simple and yet so deep.

tomcam2• 2 years ago

Working at Microsoft in the late 1990s with the creators of MS-DOS, Turbo Pascal/Delphi/Typescript/C#, and Visual Basic was unique and definitely the best perk imaginable.

samstave2• 2 years ago

I dropped out of school ambitions to be an architect, because I said there is only room for one Frank Lloyd/Gehry... I wont be working at that level...

Went into computers instead - fell back on architecture+tech...

Worked on big project and had to fly to a meeting in LA to meet with the Architect... Frank Gehry.

(I used to be on the same pee schedule as Andy Grove (we never spoke))

tomcam2• 2 years ago

LOVE those stories

JohnFen• 2 years ago

The ability to show my young children preserved human brains.

Clyd3Radcliff3• 2 years ago

A couple of years ago i resigned from my company, the boss proposed me a big salary raise and company car, also added a Chihuahua on top of it (really), he also told that he could afford base expenses like vet. At the end i left the job, but i'm wondering if i have done the good thing...

muzani• 2 years ago

I used to do specialty Android training for a gov led initiative. I had to go to basically a different polytechnic every week.

I brought my wife and then 4 year old daughter to what was basically a two month, all expenses paid road trip throughout half the country. We got some of the best food from each state, and the teachers I trained made sure we didn't end up in tourist traps. My wife and I probably gained about 10 kg by the end of those two months.

mstaoru• 2 years ago

One of my first jobs out of college was an e-commerce team lead for a luxury apparel retailer. We had access to all kinds of 80-90% sales before customers did, and lots of bonuses were paid as gift cards, so before long I was dressed head to toe in D&G, casually wore Santoni shoes, my only suit (that I worn maybe once) was Brioni. I always kinda despised "expensive clothes" but with time I learned to appreciate that some of it is very unique and/or of outstanding quality. These days I prefer Uniqlo, but still have a few items left from before, which had been serving me well for almost 20 years now.

eb0la• 2 years ago

A 500Eur/quarter budget for books or any cultural stuff (museums, etc) for me or my family. My son was already an avid reader before that; but the moment you have to quickly spend your budget with 20+ books from amazon is priceless.

Ask HN: What's the most unique job perk you've had?

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