It’s been nearly six weeks working out of the Shannon office and so far I’ve really enjoyed the experience. There are definitely some differences, many of which I hope to take back to Minnesota with me (i.e. Bun Friday, not to replace Beer Friday, but to compliment it as Bun Monday).
The people in this office have been very welcoming. In fact, I felt right at home as soon as the heckling and the “shennanigans” started. Within my first week, I was warned via Powerpoint photo montage that my photo is not to be taken at work or it will be photoshopped into some unreal scene for an office chuckle. It’s a fun, relaxed environment.
Just a few examples of this:
- Bring in treats to celebrate your birthday. Only in Minnesota do people bake you treats. Rice krispie bars (ok, “bake” is a stretch), pies, or cookies are brought in to celebrate another person’s birthday.
- Bun Friday. “Bun” refers to cakes, donuts, pastries, long johns. And dang are they good! Not quite sure I’d replace Beer Friday – that definitely has it’s own perks.
- Workstations. Low walled, little pods where groups of people sit. The environment is definitely much more open and I don’t see people having work conversations over instant messenger, which is very common in Minnesota, where we are spread across multiple buildings. When I first started my job, I found it weird that my cube neighbor would have a 10 minute IM conversation with me rather than poking a head around the corner of a five foot tall cube wall. This is something I am guilty of now myself and it’s a habit I’d like to break.
- Eating lunch as a team… everyday. In Minnesota, we are all on different schedules, many with meetings over lunch, and often many of us eat lunch at in a cubicle. Alone. Day after day. Here, we all eat lunch together. Everyday. At 1PM. On the dot. I am hoping to get better about stopping at a specified time every day. To eat lunch. To go home.
- Very expensive coffee maker in the canteen (a.k.a. breakroom). I want to bring this home with me. It is beautiful. Makes all kinds of coffee, cappacino, lattes, etc. I have Caribou Coffee/Starbucks at an arms reach all day long. Wait… that can’t be good. Oh no. Addicted to caffiene again.