the office

As I sit watching the television show The Office, I cannot help but laugh. Not because the show is so uncontrollably funny (which it is), but because the show is so ridiculously accurate. I mean, though they exaggerate the situations and circumstances, they are picking on things which really happen in a real working environment. This is true also for the movie Office Space and the cartoon Dilbert. They all use exaggerated accounts of stupid things that really go on. For example, there are really a lot of dumb, pointless, time-wasting meetings in the work place. I haven't been in too many of them, but I've been in some. They point of the meeting (or lack thereof) may vary, but may be one of the following:

• The "I'm Awesome" Meeting - This is a meeting which allows the meeting's leader to pat himself/herself on the back and let you know how amazing he/she is. This is the real reason for most end of the year/year review meetings.
• The "We Need a Meeting" Meeting - I've known meetings like this where the whole point of the meeting is to plan for when you will have meetings for different things. It's absurd to plan a meeting, during which you will plan the actual meeting you need.
• The "I'm Hungry" Meeting - These are the bogus meetings that exist just for the excuse of having catering brought in because the people in the meeting want to eat. They happen.
• The "We Need to Look Like We're Accomplishing Something" Meeting - As the name indicates, these are the meetings which are scheduled just so the people in the meeting look busy and like they're accomplishing something for the company.

That list is obvious not extensive, but I think they're the top reasons for meetings.

The other thing which is funny and true is the whole office/cubicle situation. An office is not only a location from which to work, but it is also a statement of who you are in the company. The "big wigs" will have the nice, spacious corner office. The "peasants" will have a cubicle. Where I work, there are empty offices which will remain empty until somebody moves up to command such a space. And then, if you actually get one with a window, you must really be a somebody. Scott Adams once relayed a story in one of his Dilbert books about an individual was given an office with a window because the company had run out of space and had nowhere else to put him. When he went to move in, they had installed a cubicle inside the office covering the window.

I know that to a large extent, The Office is funny because it's far-fetched. But it may not be as far fetched as one might think.