Wikipedia's TPS Report

This Wikipedia article lists several insntances where Office Space has influenced pop culture and mass media.

For example:

In the television series Lost, John Locke has a flashback of working in a cubicle office and being harassed by his obnoxious boss, Randy, asking about TPS reports.

In the similarly-themed British television series The Office, "Pete Gibbons" is mentioned on two occasions as a former Wernham Hogg employee.

In the video "Virus Alert" from the album Straight Outta Lynwood by Weird Al Yankovic, people are observed running from the flaming Initech building.

In the series of Reebok commercials featuring "Terry Tate: Office Linebacker", after one of his devastating hits on a co-worker, he yells "You know you need a cover sheet on your TPS Reports, Richard! That ain't new, baby!"

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The Two Rules of Success

1. Never tell them everything you know.
2.

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HOYT!

Remember...Your TV is not in HD unless it is in "Hoyt Definition!"

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Favorite Shredder

...is the Fellowes Strip-Cut Paper Shredder Model: PS70-2CD. Its available
from Amazon or just about any office store.

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Office Presentations

My advice to you on giving presentations in your conference rooms

When giving a presentation,

1) Dress nicely.

2) Get up there, remember to BREATHE, and look around at your audience. If you have a friend in the audience, pretend you are talking to that person. Don't stare though. Look around at your audience.

3) Tell the audience what you will talk about (Introduce the topic and background)

4) Tell the audience about it (The core of the presentation)

5) Tell the audience what you told them (Conclusion/Summary)

6) Phrases like "In conclusion." are overused. If you must transition using a phrase, be creative.

7) Don't be afraid to move around the room a little. Don't glue yourself to the PC. If you can have a "silent partner" run the presentation for you while you talk, even better. This affords you the opportunity to move around a bit, or stand opposite the computer on the other side of the projection screen.

8) Don't talk to the screen if you are presenting Powerpoint slides...talk to your audience. This requires that you know your topic well. You only need to look back at the screen to start you off into what you want to talk about...

9) Don't use index cards, a sheet of paper, or anything else that makes you look like you don't know what you are talking about.

10) Just reading your slides to people results in you talking to the screen and a boring presentation.

11) Make eye contact and talk; don't read.

12) Finally...the secret weapon...play with a paperclip, pen (my favorite), or some other discreet item during the presentation to alleviate nervous tension. It draws away your nervous energy. If you have a pointer or laser pen, even better! Its ok to have the pen out in your hands during the presentation, because it can double as a pointing device. No one needs to know the real reason!

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The Future

"This may not make much sense to you now...a young man at the beginning of his career...but one of the things you'll learn as you move up the ranks and get a little older, is that, you wish you had more time in your youth to really absorb all the things that happen to you. It goes by so fast...Its so easy to become jaded...to treat the extraordinary as just another day at the office." - Captain Janeway, Star Trek Voyager, 1995

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Case of the Mondays

"Monday is an awful way to spend 1/7th of your life."
- Unknown

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Retirement Package

Wow! It has almost been a year since Henry retired. Last year, before he retired, we thought it would be appropriate to wrap up his cube like a package. If you don't know why its appropriate, oh well...

Here is a photo of us building Henry's "retirement package." We rigged a printer paper box up so that it could hold peanuts inside. When the top of the "package" was opened, it appeared as if we filled the entire cube with shipping peanuts. We also filled his overead compartments with peanuts...a feat of engineering to say the least. Think about it...How do you get the peanuts in there and fill the overhead compartment completely without them splilling all over the place?...that is, until the intended time when Henry was supposed to open the overhead compartments and be subjected to a landslide of peanuts! We won't reveal our secret.

Here is the final product.

I sit in this cube now and, one year later, I am still cleaning up shipping peanuts!

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