Books, Movies and DVDs

Office Space (Special Edition with Flair) DVD
Directed by Mike Judge

Ever spend eight hours in a "Productivity Bin"? Ever had worries about layoffs? Ever had the urge to demolish a temperamental printer or fax machine? Ever had to endure a smarmy, condescending boss? Then Office Space should hit pretty close to home for you. Peter (Ron Livingston) spends the day doing stupefyingly dull computer work in a cubicle. He goes home to an apartment sparsely furnished by IKEA and Target, then starts for a maddening commute to work again in the morning. His coworkers in the cube farm are an annoying lot, his boss is a snide, patronizing jerk, and his days are consumed with tedium. In desperation, he turns to career hypnotherapy, but when his hypno-induced relaxation takes hold, there's no shutting it off. Layoffs are in the air at his corporation, and with two coworkers (both of whom are slated for the chute) he devises a scheme to skim funds from company accounts. The scheme soon snowballs, however, throwing the three into a panic until the unexpected happens and saves the day.

Another Day In Cubicle Paradise
by Scott Adams

When Dilbert first appeared in newspapers across the country in 1989, office workers looked around suspiciously. Was its creator, Scott Adams, a pen name for someone who worked amongst them' After all, the humor was just too eerily funny and familiar. Since then, millions of fans have repeatedly clamored for every Dilbert strip, book, coffee mug, T-shirt, you name it. Dilbert has become more than a cartoon character. He's become an office icon. In this 19th collection, Dilbert and his cohorts, Dogbert, Catbert, Ratbert, and the pointy haired boss, once again entertain with their cubicle humor. From bizarre personnel decisions to meetings gone bad, from schizoid secretaries to consultants from hell, In Your Cubicle No One Can Hear You Scream! provides a guaranteed recipe for success-and a way to get all those darn comic strips off the break room bulletin board.

The Dilbert Principle: A Cubicle's-Eye View of Bosses, Meetings, Management Fads & Other Workplace Afflictions
by Scott Adams

You loved the comic strip; now read the business advice.
Or should that be anti-business advice? Scott Adams provides the hapless victim of re-engineering, rightsizing and Total Quality Management some strategies for fighting back, er, coping. Forced to work long hours, with no hope of a raise? Adams offers tips on maintaining parity in compensation. Along the way, Adams explains what ISO 9000 really is and assesses the irresistibility of female engineers.

The breath-taking cynicism of the strip should prepare readers for the author's no-holds-barred attack on management fads, large organizations, pointless bureaucracy and sadistic rule-makers who glory in control of office supplies. Readers of the on-line Dilbert Newsletter are familiar with the kind of e-mail Adams receives from his readers -- and may even have sent a few of those missives themselves. Along with illustrative strips, e-mail messages provide excruciating examples of corporate behavior which compel the reader to agree with Adams when he insists that "People are idiots".

Build a Better Life by Stealing Office Supplies
by Dogbert (illustrated by Scott Adams)

Many pompous business books have been written in the last few years. This is another one. But unlike its predecessors, this book offers practical information. Other business books have offered such insights as "profitable companies pay high salaries." What exactly are we supposed to do with that kind of information? Should unprofitable companies raise salaries to become more profitable? Forget about making the company more profitable; it's out of your control. Put your energy where it will make the most difference: surviving your frustrating and thankless job.

The Joy of Work: Dilbert's Guide to Finding Happiness at the Expense of Your Co-Workers
by Scott Adams

This book is not a collection of Dilbert cartoons (though recycled strips are liberally sprinkled throughout); it's a dialogue between the man and his fans disguised as a tongue-in-cheek guide to surviving the corporate life. There are chapters on "Office Pranks," "Surviving Meetings," and "Managing Your Co-Workers," with enough weird stories and practical jokes to make any middle manager nervous, especially as many of the tricks and tips come from e-mails sent to Adams by his fans (one tip: never let anyone else use your computer). If these messages are any indication, the creative tide has turned, and now the corporate world is following Dilbert's lead. In the office blocks of America, life is imitating art imitating life, creating a pleasantly postmodern working environment.

Lights, Cubicle, Action! 100+ Directives for Survival in Corporate America (Paperback)
by A. A. Cantor

Lights! is the first in a series of three books shining truth on life’s fiction. The book captures the essence of corporate reality with a humorous yet insightful display of original business "anti-quotes." Lights, Cubicle, Action! is a cutting edge work that propels readers past the typical motivational hype and hoopla. No other self-help/business book would boldly state, "People who work really really hard are often viewed as underachievers." or "The more you say 'no' the more others will do for you."

The quotes delve into every area of business: job satisfaction, money, processes, excellence, power, ideas, and success, and leave no corporate stone unturned. Each quote is accompanied by an entertaining paragraph that drives the point of the quote home for the reader. Lights! strips the gloss off of life’s ideologies and entertains the reader with a truth so often thought but rarely discussed. The "anti-quotes" in Lights! are biting, sticky, and dead-on accurate, the quotes are funny and, even better, are ALL completely original.