Do you want to work for Oprah? I wouldn’t want to, just because I would imagine Oprah wouldn’t let me finish up work early because I have cramps (like CB does!). Oprah seems like a very demanding, exacting and perfectionist-type boss, only with “perfection” being determined not by industry standards, but by “Oprah standards”. Still, if you do work for Oprah, there are definitely perks. I hear the staffers get to eat all of the food she drops on the floor! No, seriously, Oprah is good to her staff, for real. She pays them above industry standards, they get great benefits, and she goes out of her way to throw in special “extras”. Last year’s extra was an all-expenses-paid 10-day vacation for her staffers and their family – a cruise touring Spain, Italy, Turkey, Greece and Malta. This year’s gifts? Oprah stopped by O Magazine and gave EVERY staffers an iPad, a monogrammed leather case, and a $10,000 check. Fab-U-lous.

Call it the 2010 version of “You get a car, you get a car, you get a car, everybody gets a car!” Oprah Winfrey dropped by Hearst headquarters on Tuesday to mark the 10th anniversary of O, The Oprah Magazine, which emerged from a famously difficult launch process to become a powerhouse title.

And she gave every staffer an Apple iPad, a leather iPad case with the staffer’s initials, and a check for $10,000, regardless of how long the staffer had worked there.

A Hearst spokeswoman confirmed the visit and gifts. “These were personal gifts to the staff from Oprah to thank them for their hard work and dedication to the magazine,” the spokeswoman said.

In 2004 Ms. Winfrey gave each member of her show’s studio audience a Pontiac G6. General Motors, which provided the cars for the publicity, later discontinued the Pontiac brand.

But we’re pretty sure the iPad has a brighter future. And $10,000 in cash will never go out of style.

[From Ad Age]

That’s kind of amazing. It’s a really great gift, although, not to look a gift Oprah in the mouth, a monogrammed leather case? Eh. Cheesy. But still, if it was free, I’d probably take it. I do want to share a nice story about my employer, CB. A few weeks ago I walked out to get the mail and I found a nice-sized package from Amazon. I thought my copy of The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet’s Nest had finally arrived from it’s pre-order purgatory, and then I opened it – it was a new iPod. CB had sent it to me as a very early birthday present! Isn’t that sweet? CB is cooler to work for than Oprah too – she gives me time off for cramps, after all. Oprah would never do that.