Last week I was talking to some friends about their work environment. I was hearing some stories that were a little hard for me to believe. All of a sudden, a little lightbulb went off in my head. I asked them, "Have you seen that show The Office? What do you think about that show?" They laughed and said that they thought it was funny. I said I thought it was funny too. Then I asked, "Can you relate to the show? Does your work environment actually resemble The Office?" They started nodding vigorously, and without hesitation they decisively, independently, and in unison said "YES! Our work is definitely like The Office!" (By the way, they work at different places.) They then went into a bunch of real-life work stories that sounded a lot like the kinds of things you might see on the show.
I was absolutely stunned. My introduction to The Office was through in-flight entertainment on business trips. I do think the show is funny, but I thought it was an extreme exaggeration and I thought it did not accurately resemble any real-life work environment. While I have seen a few strange situations at work, I could not relate to The Office in my own daily work environment as the norm. Now, I have to say, I think Dilbert is very funny. And, to be honest, I can relate to a number of Dilbertisms in my own daily work experiences. Since I'm a manager, I might even be one of the characters sometimes. But The Office? I can't really relate to that at all.
I have to say, my career advice to my friends was that if you want to have an upwardly mobile career, then you better get a better work environment and surround yourself with really good people. Now, I don't mean to be judgmental, and staying in such a work environment and may be a fine choice for you. But, for those of you who aspire to have a more professional work environment, I just wanted to let you know that such work environments do exist, so you could look for them.
And, by the way, I am not at all against the show. I think it's funny and I'm glad it makes people laugh. And Kudos to the producers of the current and preceeding versions for making such a classic.
Back to real-life work environments. I'm curious to hear from all of you:
Does your work environment resemble The Office? [1=No way; 10=They film it in my office.]
If not, do you believe that there exist work environments that do?
Does your work environment resemble Dilbert? [1=No way; 10=They film it in my office.]
What is your advice for people who work in office environments that resemble The Office?
Help me understand this!
Tags: The Office, Dilbert, work environment, career advice, HP
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