Use the powerful Office Space rules for career advancement, increased salary, and a better attitude. If you haven’t seen the movie comedy Office Space then you need to. The reason it is so funny is we all can see the truth in it. The basic and universal truth that can be taken from the movie is this: The less you care, the higher you will climb. There will always be stupid processes, unfairly applied layoffs and promotions; and incompetent managers.

• If you are ever going to retire early, you need to save as much money as you can and a higher salary makes that happen a lot faster.
• If you are some distance from your early retirement goal then having a better work attitude will make your life better. No one enjoys feeling buried and mired in work with no personal life in sight.
• If you are going to live the retire early and often lifestyle then using the powerful rules of Office Space will make sure you never fall into a career or job trap again and you can stay focused on your Leisure Freak self.

Rule #1 –

Be very careful using any of the powerful rules of Office Space that I will be writing about if you are the newbie at the job. You have to have been there long enough to know what the hell you are doing, where you know what is important to your job, and find resources, trusted team mates, the dead weight, bullies, the go-getters, and who the real boss is. If you are new to the job, you’re then still learning and hopefully passionate about being there. You should know if you are at the point where you know what you are doing.

Rule #2 –

Attitude is the key. If people see you as having a pissy attitude then it won’t matter how many miracles you are performing. That is all they see. So you need to get it right in your own head.

Do only what you are willing to do.

If you stay late to finish something and it’s because you want to, then you can’t be mad about it. If you are about to do something and you are generally annoyed with it, ask yourself why are you doing it? I am not talking about your normal job duties. If that is the case then you really need to move on. Don’t stay and have an attitude.

Work and concentrate on what you know matters.

Finish your deliverables, complete all your required tasks, etc. On my last gig they decided to introduce a new project tracking application. It wasn’t important to my getting my job done but they kept insisting on us using and learning the system. I just did my job and didn’t work on the new system. To me it was like the stupid TPS reports with a cover sheet in the Office Space movie.

I don’t have the disc-space in my head to waste on redundant documentation. I didn’t say anything and nobody asked. There is a line in the movie where the Developer, Peter tells the consultants that it’s not that he is lazy, it’s that he just doesn’t care. I was eventually asked to use the new system but by then they had worked out all the bugs and processes and no mention of my 6 month delay. I just said I didn’t get around to it yet and had critical timelines to meet. Attitude maintained.

Keep your mouth shut and don’t ask questions if you might hate the answer.

If it was so important to know you would have been told about it. I wondered if we could work from home when there was a large snow storm, or I was feeling under the weather, etc. Other people were doing it and I wanted in on it too so I didn’t ask the boss because you would think it would have come up at some point. I decided I will work from home when I need to. I didn’t abuse it and nothing was ever said to me. However eventually someone did abuse it and they do then lay down the law. It turns out people can work from home only if they close the building. There is always someone mucking up the works. No bad attitude about it.

Rule #3 –

Don’t act like a desperate employee. Never let anyone think that if you lost this job you would be finished. Always act confident and believe that if this job ends another will come. Every office has its bullies. They will prey on the desperate and I have seen it time and time again. They are usually connected employees, some barely functional but they do have someone’s ear to protect them. Engage with them for business purposes only and never let them suck you in.

Rule #4 –

Don’t lie for anyone. I don’t care if it’s your CEO who says they would consider it a personal favor. When I was an engineer I had the unpleasant duty of being the expert technical witness for the company. The corporate attorney was prepping me by running through some questions that may be asked by the opposing lawyers. I answered a technical question and he said I do not want you to answer with that answer. When I said that is the way it works, he just repeated I do not want you to answer with that answer. I then asked if he was asking me to lie. He said absolutely not but I do not want you to answer with that answer. WTF?

I was lucky I was not asked that question because I would have answered it the only way I could. In the end when you lie it’s all on you. Nobody will care that someone put you up to it or pressured you. They are probably better protected. Do talk about it to others though so you have backup if you need it. If you do end up telling the truth against someone’s wishes, having it in the open as soon as possible may take some of their power away to ruin you about the issue.

Rule #5 –

Pick your battles. Both how and where you fight them. So something happens or is going to happen that is unfair, illegal, disgusting, or anything you are totally against. Never give in to bullies and refuse to passively play nice. Be strategic instead of emotional and make sure you set the conditions for battle where you can win. You should also look at all the negative outcomes if you do lose. Living your life feeling like a victim is the last thing one should accept.

I was being sexually harassed by a woman who was a manager above me. I tried to handle it for a month or so but then it openly spilled out in front of my technical assistant. She witnessed my telling the sexual harassing troll that there was no F’n way I would share a room with her on a scheduled business trip. It was reported to my manager. She reported it up the ranks and the harassment ended.

Two weeks passed without anyone speaking to me about it. In other words, no serious investigation. Well this sexual harassing manager was favored by the company for some unknown reason, though I have a logical assumption. The suits who run things had no moral authority and they just wanted to cover it all up. I was told that it was all a misunderstanding and it would be in my best interest to drop the whole thing and warned to keep it to myself. They then made me still travel with her on the business trip. I did get my own room.

What else could I do but openly talk about it with everyone and make sure everyone knew. Not only of the harassment but the outcome of the complaint so that I couldn’t be quietly dealt with to protect their protégé. I admit that I wasn’t emotionally ruined or damaged by the entire ordeal and I enjoyed mocking the hypocrisy of Corporate America. My anger was about how those in power tried to intimidate and control me. They made me take more heat than the sex-troll. I wasn’t the one that even reported it for crying out loud!

Disobeying and openly telling people actually helped my career in the long run. Once engaged in battle I set the conditions. I held it together and was still able to work there, even with her. The Troll felt discomfort, not me. Within a year of the incident I worked my way up through a technical engineering plan and was promoted. As far as I am concerned I won this war.

I never felt or let them make me feel like a victim of her or their hypocrisy. By openly talking about it I was expressing myself to them.

In conclusion

This isn’t so much about the less you care, the higher you will climb as it is to be smart, do your job, keep a good attitude, keep your eye on what’s important to you, and if you can’t work there within your limits and really hate it then get the hell out of there and do something you would love to do. Working anywhere is not designed to be fair.If you go and do above and beyond they will certainly let you and maybe come to expect it. If you are angry about doing it then don’t be surprised if you are never recognized for your efforts.

Use these powerful Office Space rules for career advancement, salary, and attitude only if you do a good job. Now go and watch Office Space.