I watched Office Space when I was younger and believed at the time that it was a gross over-caricaturization. It was a comedy movie, after all. No _real_ compan

I watched Office Space when I was younger and believed at the time that it was a gross over-caricaturization. It was a comedy movie, after all. No _real_ company could ever be that demoralizing to work for, there's no way you could put that much cluelessness, self-interest, and passive-agressive managerial evil into one building and not have it spontaneously combust, right? (Which I guess it did in the movie.) Until I got a job in a mid-size financial services company. It was all that and a whole lot worse. It was literally forbidden to pin Dilbert comic strips to your cubicle wall. Not _any_ comic strips, only Dilbert ones weren't allowed. Up all night fixing an issue in prod caused by someone else? Tough, better be in your chair at 8:00 a.m. like any other day. I lasted 10 months. It was horrible, but I don't actually regret it because it made me appreciate the value of a _good_ workplace run by and staffed by intelligent well-meaning people. Which still isn't as common as it should be, but definitely exist.