{"id":2060,"date":"2024-10-13T16:05:57","date_gmt":"2024-10-13T20:05:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.unliterate.net\/?p=2060"},"modified":"2024-10-13T16:15:52","modified_gmt":"2024-10-13T20:15:52","slug":"knickknacks-swag-pieces-of-flair","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.unliterate.net\/index.php\/2024\/10\/13\/knickknacks-swag-pieces-of-flair\/","title":{"rendered":"Knickknacks, Swag, & Pieces of Flair"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

October 2, 2024 was my last day at my job as a Principal Software Engineer for Cloud ID<\/a> at Synacor<\/a>. Originally hired on September 3, 2013 as a Web Operations Engineer I was culled in the “Synapocalypse” in March, 2014. After re-applying for a Configuration Engineer position I was rehired on April 14, 2014 and kept increasing my position until it was finally obsoleted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the 10+ years of corporate work I acquired a hefty lot of company bling. This posting is to go over all the captured “shinies” and reminisce about how awesome and excessive some things can really be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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One of the first ever items I was able to get, lose, and get back is my initial nametag for my desk nameplate. When first initially hired every employee was assigned a desk and had an option for business cards. Hired by Kris Davison<\/a> and along with my other coworkers Russ<\/a>, Jessie, Griffin<\/a>, and Dave<\/a>, we did our jobs amongst the 300+ employee. Typically when people are fired or leave the nametag is just left behind for others to scrounge up, which is exactly what happened with mine, and upon my rehire was gladly returned to me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Just with mine being scrounged up I was able to scrounge up the nametags of Tim Terrill<\/a>, Christina Keefe<\/a>, Chad Brill<\/a>, Andrew Skalski, and Deepti Tadala<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Along with nametags people would have food and drinks left behind. The Frooti was provided to me on Karan Arora<\/a>‘s departure on October 2014. The Emergen-C Alerts! were just set aside on someone’s desk to acquire. The Frooti’s expiration was March 6, 2015 and the Emergen-C’s both expired on Jan 2011. Keeping expired foods and drinks is just a side effect of keeping things that people leave behind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sometimes the job wanted to give out swag for events, hence a lanyard, a phone wallet, a phone stand, and a squishable vehicle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Also two styles of coffee mugs. The darts on the top were used to “acquire target\/attention” of people hard-at-work in their cubicles since sending a text message through the chat platform wasn’t quick enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Paper saucers and the Summer Picnic invite. The saucer provides the best advice for anyone looking for attention at a corporate job: Trust is our currency. We bring our best every day. We do the right thing to support our customers, investors, and our people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Along the swag is the tumblers and water bottles, both made of stainless steel. They do hurt if they fall on your foot or bonk against your head.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Along with drinks there was food provided in one way or another. During many office renovations we had to relocate our desks, and as thanks we got noms and notes. I’m fairly certain that cookie and chocolate bar was provided before COVID…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Speaking of COVID there was a yearbook dispatched by the company. Drafted as “Synacor Together – 2020 Yearbook” (so to be scanned\/linked) this contained the contributions of all the executives and employees from all around the world as we all worked from home during a global pandemic. Hat not related by bling\/swagged for the shot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Minor importance left behind by employees, including a Dad’s Hat by Christina Keefe, a Coke from another employee named “Matthew”, a classic Office Space VHS and a Self-titled Danzig CD.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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And last, but not least, gifts provided to me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n