Corporate Culture Shock

You really get to know more about a company when you work longer hours than usual. Today, I'm going to be running off to SFWA's annual Author-Editor Reception -- I think the name might actually be longer than that, now, but we all just call it the "Mill & Swill" -- so I'm lingering in the Wiley offices much later than I usually do.

I generally come in early and leave early -- just slightly earlier than the Wiley standard of 8:30 to 4:30 -- so I haven't really known what it's like here after I leave. (And I'm usually one of the first to leave, as I was at the bookclubs.)

But Wiley very quickly turns into a ghost town: the floor is mostly empty by 5. This is in strong distinction to the iron-woman culture of the clubs, where seeing daylight on leaving the office was considered a sign of weakness. There are people still working here, but I bet Wiley doesn't have the office hypermilers the clubs did, people who didn't get out before 8 even on a good day.

I much prefer this current culture, of course.