I'm a big fan of The Office (and I won't apologize for liking the American series better); I loved Office Space and News Radio. I was even a fan of 9 to 5 as a kid. They're all classic comedy, sure – but you knew this was coming – there's an awful lot of truth to them. I've worked for bosses sporting near comedic egos, complacency, and density. I interned with a Ryan clone, and Samir and Michael could be any of a dozen developers at four different gigs. I've never worked with anyone quite as funny as Jim, but fair is fair – he has a team of writers behind him.
As much as I like offices, there are of course downsides. I think one of the biggest disadvantages, for me, is the paranoia. You really never know what others are thinking, and I've found more often than not if you're paranoid, you're right, and if you're not, you're oblivious. (Or is that the paranoia talking?) I've had close friends complain to the boss over little nothings, had job climates change in the blink of an eye. The worst case I've seen personally is of a guy Sean worked with – let's call him Betty! – for a year. When it came down to a layoff where either Sean or Betty was going to get the axe, Betty fabricated a misdeed with Sean's name on it, and got him fired. That's a good piece of work there, Betty.
I'm not jaded, I'm really not. And I haven't had any bad experiences in the last three or so offices I've been in (in fact I very much like the current gig, and my stint at MS). I'm just saying that for me, that little worry is an irritating presence in the workplace. It's strange, too, because I've been in the industry long enough to understand that, as much as you may love a job / office / environment, it's still just a job. Even in this economy, if this one evaporates, another one waits.
So, to sum up: offices are funny. And you should be paranoid. But not really, because life is a cookie.
-Jen McCown, http://www.midnightdba.com
There was that one time we thought we poisoned our sexist boss, and we hid him in the trunk, and, well, it was all wacky hijinks…