I just watched Office Space again and, as per the norm when you see a movie too many times, I found myself thinking that Jennifer Aniston's boss at Chotchkie's wasn't really that bad. It's not like he was dictating and censoring the flair she was putting on, he just wanted her to put more on. That seemed to be her only complaint about the place other than the annoying coworker.
Civility is just a warm and fuzzy name for censorship.
I think the manager character is right on. Considering that the writer of the film, Mike Judge, plays the manager, I am pretty sure he had a boss like that and he was just "remembering" on film. Same with Lundberg in Office Space. Being from Texas, I am sure Mike Judge has had his fair share of Idiot Bosses. King of the Hill captures the Texans he grew up with, perfectly...Especially the mumbler. There are ALOT of those guys in Texas! He is brilliant at writing jerks' characters.... I love everything he writes!
shareGood points. There are too many of those guys/gals in Texas. That's where I am. I'm not like that when I'm a supervisor (really, I swear! lol). One time though when I was training someone I caught myself saying, "If you could just go ahead and..." and I started laughing at myself. The trainee asked what I was laughing at, so I briefly told her about the movie...
Whenever I HAVE TO go to town (Midland/Slowdeatha) I am crackin up at the conversations I overhear, there....they all remind me of characters out of Mike Judge's mind. I am a Texan, but some here are alot more colorful than others. And half the time, they don't even know it. Once I heard one old man say to another, "I'll tell you WHAT." and the other one said, "What?". and that was the whole conversation! haha
Texas is a great place to pick up dialogue and accents for future writings. That is why I love that character on King of the Hill that mumbles. I know people that talk just like that! They say write what you know...and Mike Judge does just that.
On another note: I think Heath Ledger played the most authentic Cowboy I have ever seen in any film, bar none. He was Perfect. His work in that film is a Masterpiece!
that's what!
nice.
Veneration of Mark Twain is one of the roots of our current intellectual stalemate
The thing people don't seem to realize is that he also had a boss with expectations. Sure he was a bit passive and obnoxious, but he didn't come off as malicious. He came off as someone who was trying to get an employee to do her job (uniform is part of the job) without being confrontational. Sure, he should have either told her to wear more flair or let it drop. But I can easily see that as the actions of somebody who is trying to keep his restaurant looking good by going above and beyond.
Take Lumberg as a counter example. Lumberg was also just doing his job and trying to hit targets, and we see when he's talking to the Bobs that even he is not above losing his job. However Lumberg did strike me as malicious in a few scenes, particularly anything to do with Milton.
I think the movie did a great job of keeping it ambiguous. Yes some characters were less likable than others (Nina), but when it comes down to being "bad guys" there weren't many instances of that. Mostly just people dealing in various ways with the fact that we often end up having to do things we don't want to do because otherwise we don't get money.
The thing people don't seem to realize is that he also had a boss with expectations. Sure he was a bit passive and obnoxious, but he didn't come off as malicious. He came off as someone who was trying to get an employee to do her job (uniform is part of the job) without being confrontational.The thing is she was doing her job in this respect. He was saying that the minimum is actually higher than the minimum, which doesn't make any sense. Why even have a minimum if you expect everyone to wear more other than to be passive-aggressive? What he did was communicate one expectation but then hold her to a different one. The actual minimum is some mystery number he has in his head and not communicating it makes him a bad boss.
Yeah, I agree. I don't think he was a good manager and he definitely did a poor job of setting and communicating expectations. I suppose when I say I don't think he was "all that abad" I mean that in the sense that if I worked for him, he'd annoy me but I'd probably have a hard time taking him seriously enough to be all that moved by it. Whereas Lumberg would make me legitimately nervous because he just seems greasy.
shareI agree Lumburg was worse, but the stakes are higher at that job, too. I think the point was that you'd have to be pretty complacent to put up with a passive-aggressive boss like the guy from Chotchkie's for a job waiting tables at a restaurant chain. Peter inspired her to be more active in her life, tell him that the job isn't worth putting up with his crap and find a better job. It parallels Peter's feelings about his life.
shareHe wasn't that bad and neither was Lumbergh. Annoying maybe, but Peter and Joanna both had pretty crappy attitudes.
Dini
He was an A-wipe Micromanager little puke. I would have worn some badges populated with expletives. Basically he can't manage Jack. All he had to do is say was "the minimum is 15 but I would like to see you wear 20 to show our Chotkie Customers we go the extra step"
shareWhile he didn't have an overbearing and intimidating way about him, he still was bad, and for many of the reasons others have mentioned thus far.
I'd like to add that if I was his employee, what would make me most irritated with him is his purposely nebulous definition of a good employee. He never clearly states what one can do to satisfy him ( and from the beleaguered employee's view, get him off their back ). In this way, no matter how good an employee performs, or comports themselves, he can always level criticism in some way that the employee is not quite measuring up. It's control and mind games.
Yeah, he's a bit of a jerk.
and he probably smelled too.
The circulation of confidence is better than the circulation of money.-James Madison
Like Peter, she found the experience soul-crushing and that's what upset her. The manager was also comparing her to another employee who she hated. She is also influenced by Peter not being happy about his job and not caring anymore.
shareClearly she hadn't worked for many bad bosses. He should have just out and out told her to wear more flare of find another job. The bottom line is she works for him not the other way around. IMO, he was being diplomatic and nice to her by trying to convince her to do what she should have been doing in the first place.
No one likes their boss, and more likely then not she hated her job more than her boss. If you hate your job, quit them and don't whine. Jenn was a bad employee!
Jennifer was indifferent, but clearly the boss was a worse boss than she was an employee.
He wasn't being diplomatic, he was being manipulative and weasel-like. He had a purposely nebulous definition of a good employee so as to be impossible to measure up to any standard...as the standard changed on a whim.
You think so?
I didn't see that as being the case. He simply was trying to get her to wear more flare. Perhaps he came off as weasel-like, but I saw it more as him trying to get Jenn to do what he wanted without actually coming straight out and ordering her to wear 20 pieces of flare (or whatever it was.)
Of course the whole theme to the movie was basically "take this job and shove it", but IMO the manager wasn't a world class jerk, I found Brian--the uber annoying waiter--so much more annoying.
BTW, I absolutely love "Office Space." It's one of my all time favorites. I just didn't see the manager as being that much of a dick.
He isn't that bad in the movie, but if you're being confronted about the same *beep* every day it does start to grate on you after awhile. It's meant to mirror the TPS reports thing.
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I didn't think the manager at Chotchkie's was a bad person but he did come across as someone who had just gotten promoted to manager and was trying too hard to impress his bosses.
shareI don't know about that. I've had a few bosses that do that over the length of their career. A kiss ass isn't necessarily just a kiss ass at the beginning.
He came across as one of those bosses who expects more out of their employees than the employees are required to give.
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Question: What does wearing more "flare" have to do with being a competent and efficient waitress??? Was the managers real issue being that he wanted her to act more like Bryan.. "up" and full of spirit??
shareQuestion: What does wearing more "flare" have to do with being a competent and efficient waitress???
Was the managers real issue being that he wanted her to act more like Bryan.. "up" and full of spirit??
I think the idea was for her to look like she enjoys her job, the way Bryan seems to enjoy his.
Yeah, but Bryan seemed to enjoy his job a little too much.
As long as they're efficient, polite, and have good hygiene, then there's really nothing more You can ask from a waiter (unless they're in some establishment like Hooters or something, where some other "appearance" is required). The amount of flair on Joanna's shirt would be completely meaningless to the average customer.
But Bryan wasn't fake. He acted the exact same way in the parking lot after work. The point was that he was actually perfectly suited for a job there, and Joanna wasn't.
shareNo, the manager (Mike J) was not that bad, he was carrying out the Company policy and mission.
Aniston had a problem taking a job she was not suited for.
^ yeah, I wondered if the other posters knew that the manager was played by OS director Mike Judge. He did a great job playing Stan as a corporate tool who praised the idiotic antics of Brian. I hate getting waiters like Brian who are think they have to perform like circus apes to get a tip. They interrupt your dinner with their loud, clownish comments and try to engage you in personal conversation. I much prefer to have a quiet, unremarkable waitress who just delivers the food and does the bare minimum.
Books has no sound
wow , i never realised Mike J was in it.
So he was the 'more flair please' guy?