What's so great about The Office?

I recently got the first disc of season one from Netflix. The episode where they played basketball against the warehouse workers almost killed me. I was laughing so hard. It's so, so, SO true.

Oh, I watched the British version and would physically wince whenever David Brent did anything particularly painful. But definitely funny, once you get past the horror!

Interesting post. What advice could you give those of us in the HR world about "identifying the oddities (and stupidities) of the typical nine to five and exploiting them," as you say? Are these recruiting tips on management techniques or what? Also, when you say "I can profess that I've learned absolutely nothing," do you mean "nothing-nothing" or just "very, very little."

Closely related, although at times slightly more vulgar, is the Mike Judge classic Office Space. Who hasn't wanted to take a baseball bat to a faulty printer? a non-HP printer, of course 8).

Pete Johnson
HP.com Chief Architect
Personal Blog: http://nerdguru.net

After an eight-hour grind, dealing with the turmoils of corporate America, who would have thought prime-time popularity would fall into the hands of the one show that throws us right back into our cubicles? And for some reason, nobody seems to mind.

:: Raising hand ::

I mind. I've seen about a dozen episodes over the years, or at least parts of them. By the time the first break comes, I move on. To me, the gags run dry. If I wanted to relive the incredible stupidities of my office, why would I go home?

But then, I haven't watched much in the way of SitComs since Seinfeld ended.

I'm not a big sitcom fan, either, but The Office is "can't miss TV" for me. I haven't learned anything from it either.

But Dunder-Mifflin can't hold a candle to the oddities in my office, so it's even more entertaining to me as I realize that 95% of what's on the show could easily happen in my office without anyone even noticing.

In response to Mike:

You really have to ID the oddities of YOUR corporate environment for yourself. From the responses I have received, I feel like every place has some unique stuff going on.

Watching The Office will help you ID the stranger part of where you work, so I recommend picking up the DVDs. If nothing else, it will make you laugh.

And yeah, I really don't think you learn anything…it's easy to ID w/, but it's still a sitcom. It's just fun. Enjoy it for what it is.

Charlie on the PA:

Because it's funnier to watch it happen to other people while sitting on your couch in your boxers…

Or better yet, watch the original British version. It's much funnier!

I also highly recommend the movie Office Space. It gets better every time you watch it!

"That's what she said" has become a mantra at my office. So much so that we've shortened it to "TWSS".

TBS recently picked up The Office reruns so those of you who haven't watched can join the club.