# What's your office perk???



## cda (Jul 31, 2013)

We got a "Keurig" today !!!! Moving on up.

Grinding away at work for 40 hours a week and dealing with everything from office politics to the commute can wear down anyone, but a few San Antonio office spaces are providing some creative perks to sweeten the work day.

Send us your photos: E-mail a picture of your favorite office perk

We asked readers to submit some of their favorite office perks from their workplace and we got some responses that made us wish we could get a few of these for the newsroom. (Ping pong, anyone?)

Hostway: The Internet hosting company boasts, among other things, bouncing horses. (Think the big red bouncy balls with the handle that you sit on, except dressed up like horses.) Going from cubicle to cubicle has never been so exciting, or you can ride that bouncing pony into the video gaming center, where staffers hold Mortal Combat tournaments.

Hostway's conference room also has a hidden perk.

“The conference table transforms into a regulation-size ping pong table,” said Javier Cano. “We'll occasionally have ping pong tournaments as well. They get pretty heated.”

Generations Federal Credit Union: “It's not a perk that everyone would mention, but we have a really beautiful Mother's Room,” said Ashley Harris. “We really did the room up … its own private refrigerator, leather chair, wall decorations, pictures of the kids on the wall.

When I gave birth a few years ago (I was at another company), I had a stool in the supply closet. So for me to see a room like this really means a lot. Companies talk about supporting moms, but this one actually does it!”

Harris added that her workplace has a video game room and that employees get discounted theme park tickets, season tickets to Roadrunners games and managers who bring breakfast tacos into the branches for the employees.

Geekdom: The collaborative workspace in Weston Centre that is home to a slew of start-ups, entrepreneurs and developers boasts a ping pong table, foosball, a designated quiet room with low lighting that serves as the unofficial nap room (to help shake off that post-enchilada-lunch drowsiness), a video gaming room with multiple video gaming consoles and an office kitchen stocked with free soda pop, snacks and beer on tap. But it's not all free Dr Pepper and naps. Vending machines in the office offer items like high-tech soldering kits and other bits you might need to build a mini tech empire (or just a helpful app).

Jeremy Karney, a developer with Monk's Toolbox, has been using office space at Geekdom for about a year and a half, and said the perks make the office easier to deal with. “It makes me want to stay longer, and I don't feel like I have to escape the office,” Karney said. “I enjoy being there.” Rackspace: The tech giant took up residence in the former Windsor Park Mall and promptly installed a stainless steel silver tube slide so staffers could get from the second floor to the first in the most efficient, exhilarating manner possible. Short of zip-lining into the board room, you can't beat this mode of transportation when it comes to moving around the office. That famous slide is testament that Rackspace is the kind of workplace that doesn't take itself too seriously.

Known as “The Castle,” Rackspace's HQ also includes patio furniture set up in open areas and several gondolas from Brackenridge's Park Sky Ride, which are used as meeting spaces.

“We're really big on collaboration, so instead of always having to go into a closed in meeting room, you have this open space to collaborate with our other Rackers,” said Jason Hopkins, Rackspace's talent branding manager.

Besides ping pong, arcade games and a gym, Rackspace staffers, or “rackers” pitched in to set up a CrossFit-style class in the open-air garden area in the former Montgomery Wards. Instructors lead four classes a day for employees, free of charge, and yes, there are showers and locker rooms on-site.

“We have a work hard, play hard mentality. We put in a lot of hours because we have the opportunity to work on the things we're passionate about,” Hopkins said. “You have a way to burn off some steam, refocus and get ready to get back to serving the customer.”

Blonde Creative: This off-the-wall advertising agency truly is a creative space. Colorful works by local artists adorn almost every available area, from the wall behind the office's drum kit to the conference table. Barbie dolls, which are used in pictures on their social media platforms, are all over the office, but probably the best part of this downtown-area office space is a full bar that is kept stocked by none other than the creative director and head of the company himself, Louis Cardenas.

The end of the work week is reserved for “Margarita Fridays,” starting at 9 a.m. The office also keeps toys stocked when staffers are in need of a brain break: Nerf guns, water guns and remote-controlled cars keep the atmosphere lighthearted. “You have to have fun at work,” Cardenas said. “Not a lot of people are like that, but we are.”


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## jar546 (Jul 31, 2013)

Link is no good


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## Mac (Jul 31, 2013)

Our 'perk of tte week' is a squad of five New York State auditors camped out in the conference room all week for the annaul shakedown OOps I mean audit.


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## globe trekker (Jul 31, 2013)

I believe that I have one of the best office perks going..  I get to be employed for one more day!  Well, ..so

far anyway.  The day is not over yet.  D`OH!   :roll:

.


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## cda (Jul 31, 2013)

Mac said:
			
		

> Our 'perk of tte week' is a squad of five New York State auditors camped out in the conference room all week for the annaul shakedown OOps I mean audit.


And you are trying hard to convince them one code book cost that much


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## fatboy (Jul 31, 2013)

Yeah, my perk is that my key still fits the lock in the door, and I can still log into my computer..... :cowboy


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## mtlogcabin (Jul 31, 2013)

Agree with others about having a job. However I do get a very nice "perk", it is the people I work with. We live in one of the most beautiful parts of this country and we are able to enjoy it with a very flexible work schedule because everyone is willing to go the "extra" mile to get the work done so we can have time off with family.


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## tmurray (Jul 31, 2013)

my favorite perk at my office: any overtime worked during the summer can be taken as additional vacation during the off season.


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## RJJ (Jul 31, 2013)

Man you all are in some tall cotton! I have no perks! Just finished a L&I audit which about Ticked me off with a  state inspector who can barely speak English. Then on my return from the field the was no AC! Next is a chinese fire drill over a permit issued by another company that has no CO! It is now my job to get this fixed ASAP. We I'll Be! How can I see through the walls.

Just checked my key still works and can log on, so all is good.


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## peach (Aug 1, 2013)

flexible hours...


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## Uncle Bob (Aug 1, 2013)

Office Perks:

1.  Freedom of movement; lets me do my job more efficiently.

2.  My supervisor the Building Official/City Planner; is very knowledgeable of codes and is a proactive code enforcer.

3.  The City Manager backs us 100 %.

4.  I’m overworked (for my age); and it keeps me interested and active.

5.  All the office personnel work together.

6.  The builders, contractors and citizens are a pleasure to work with.

7.  I’m over paid.

Uncle Bob J


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## Mech (Aug 1, 2013)

A key to the office

Flex Time

OT = time and half pay or comp time

No internet blocks


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## rktect 1 (Aug 2, 2013)

Man, I wont go anywhere near our inspectors coffee.

That is my perk.


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## RJJ (Aug 2, 2013)

Just informed that if I have all inspections and reports done I can leave at any time! However, need to take a pile of plans with me to do over the weekend because they need reviews by Monday.


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## Paul Sweet (Aug 2, 2013)

Job security - I have enough papers (or electrons) to shuffle and construction-related problems to resolve to keep 2 people busy!

I get paid to travel out to the mountains in Southwest Virginia to meet with facilities people at the colleges and look at the projects under construction.


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## Rick18071 (Aug 2, 2013)

A company car to use when I wish.


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## Francis Vineyard (Aug 2, 2013)

My perk is I'm encouraged to participate and learn the code from this forum.

Francis


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## chris kennedy (Aug 2, 2013)

Owner of my company is constantly telling me I'm lucky to have a job, so I stand with others that stated the same.

Oh, and free ice is a huge perk IMO.


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## jar546 (Aug 3, 2013)

What's your office perk???

My perk is having great people work for me to make my life easier.  Well, except one I need to replace but easier said than done

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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