Our Favorite Time of the Day and Other Stories

Some stories that have caught my attention:

• What are you doing at 7 p.m.? A new study sampling 5,400 individuals from 20 countries around the world found that we all generally find 7 p.m. to be a pleasant time of day. Seven in the evening is when a lot of us are doing things like having dinner, watching television, socializing, and hopefully finishing up work and heading home. I’m usually still at work at 7 p.m., but it’s a much less stressful part of the workday.
• Zappos is ridding themselves of corporate hierarchy (i.e. managers and bosses) in favor of a “holacracy” where everyone works together on team “circles” and self-govern themselves. Employees who aren’t sold on this idea and want to leave the company will be given three months of severance. Leaders will naturally emerge on most teams, so this way of working may not be too different.

• Stephen Rodrick’s profile of casting director Allison Jones is so good:

She cast “The Office” pilot for forty thousand dollars, and received a fraction of that for each episode, but receives nothing from reruns or digital sales of any of her shows. In the past, she has offered to take no money up front and just a tiny percentage of profit if a show does well, but producers have never taken her up on the deal. She noted that there’s still no Academy Award for casting. “Believe me, it’s sad for me that I have to still get a J. Crew shirt instead of a shirt from Barneys when I know that Jonah Hill is worth millions of dollars,” she said. “It’s not a bitter thing, but it’s just, like, ‘Ah shit, I’m doing something wrong.’ ”

• For those without traditional ways of building credit, FICO is announcing that it will include “alternative data” like payment histories for household bills (cable bills, utility bills, cell phone bills, etc.), which will especially help those who can’t get access to a line of credit.

• A “trelfie” is a made-up word that means “travel selfie,” according to the Times, and lots of hotels and resorts are giving discounts and prizes to travelers who participate in their trelfie contests (who else is feeling kind of … old?).

Photo: Jason Robards

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