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Underground > Film, TV & Theatre >

The Secret Life of the Office. It makes my blood boil...

The Planet of Sound

12:42 / 17.07.02

BBC2 documentary, on last night and week before. Look out for part three...

...What made Holiday Autos think it would be a good idea to let the cameras in? Why is the little bald boss-man such a repellent, nit-picking Hitler? The disparity between their 'mission statement' (individuality, cheerfulness, friendliness) and the clone-drone-worker-slaves they actually want (The one employee to embody those attributes is hounded out by a sour-faced crone). The clamp down on toilet-visits, the hour-long managerial discussion on whether people should be ALLOWED TO EAT COUGH SWEETS. The fact that all the management seem to be completely out of touch with reality (You need more work done, and experienced staff to stay on? THEN PAY DECENT WAGES AND RECRUIT MORE STAFF, AND ACCEPT THE FACT THAT IT'S A FUCKING BORING JOB ANYWAY, AND GIVE THEM SOME KIND OF INCENTIVE TO ENJOY IT...).

Gnnnnggghhhhhhhhrrrrrnnnnnneeeuuuggghooon.

13:44 / 17.07.02

Oh God, yes. Just the sort of thing that makes me wish basic Marxism (or just a definition of capitalism!) was taught at school:

Management: "You know, some people just get up in the morning and come into work because it's something to do. We have to find a way of getting them to go that extra mile."
(Translation: Capitalism functions by the capitalist class extracting as much surplus value - ie, unpaid labour - as they can from the bodies of their labourers. How can we exploit our workers more? What ideological sugar-coating can we put on this situation in order to instal in our workers the desire to be exploited?)

I mean, you know, sometimes I go all worra worra, Marx (at least my EXTREMELY simplistic grasp of his thinking) is not sufficient to grasp the complexities of the contemporary globalized economy.

But sometimes, it really is JUST THAT SIMPLE.

The Planet of Sound

14:01 / 17.07.02

Absolutely. And when the revolution comes, the boss of Holiday Autos will be the first against the wall.

What worries me most about this show is the lack of precisely that simple understanding you've mentioned, Deva, and how endemic it seems to be in 'yer Management'; does some magical change occur when these people are promoted or back-stab their way up to managerial positions, whereby they imagine that people WANT to do tedious, repetitive, lowly-paid jobs, and are going to be motivated by anything other than improved wages and company bonhomie? The strange zombie-like look in their eyes in the meetings, as they discussed further ways to exploit their 'underlings', and make their lives more miserable? That bloody e-mail the crone sent around, causing half the female office to burst into tears; fine management, indeed. It's like a fascist microcosm, and it seems to be so acceptable, so commonplace, in The British Office. 'The working class can kiss my arse, I've got the foreman's job at last', indeed.

Goodness Gracious Meme

14:39 / 17.07.02

Gah. And was I the only person who found the last episode's sections dealing with the customer service department depressing and enraging in equal measure?

A dept. head has two long time members of staff in tears due to the introduction of a 48-hour turnaround which they both say has been tried and has failed before. The reaction seemed to be not to give an inch and wait for their natural resilience to kick in so as to be able to get them in for overtime. Found the final shots of the department, where everything seems to be back to 'normal', really disturbing.

19:54 / 17.07.02

Oh, God, yes, plums. And that "meeting"* where the most experienced member of the Department, who they're all relying on to get their fucking targets met, just sat through it in silence waiting for it to be over: clearly knowing that whatever was said, it would have no impact on her doing her job, and that her contribution would not be listened to.

*By which I mean "lunchtime meeting". By which I assume they mean "meeting in the workers' breaktime". Fuckers.

Higher than the sun :)

23:37 / 17.07.02

Assholes, all of them. What can we do though? We're all part of it. IT SUCKS!

Does anyone here have similar work conditions to these numpty's? I know i do.

odd jest on horn

03:06 / 18.07.02

slightly offtopic:

Does the BBC sell their shows on videotape (or streaming multimedia or whatever)? Couldn't find anything on its website. This is just one of several shows I have missed on BBC just because I can't afford a satellite and live in the wrong country.

The Natural Way

08:15 / 18.07.02

Deva! School! Yes!

Gooourghd.....hoooooorible.

The real problem is that the staff don't understand that they're being exploited. They know they're having a nasty time, yes, but there's a kinda "that's just the way it is" attitude that prevails in almost any office. There's the feeling that the world has to be this way, that to consider alternatives would be like attempting to ignore gravity or some other natural law.

I just wanted to scream at the telly: "YOUR GOING TO DIE! YOUR GOING TO DIE AND YOUR LIFE WILL HAVE BEEN THIS!" Oh God, talk about alienated labour.... Even (sorry, especially) those at the top....has Holiday Autos eaten all their dreams and sense of human relations? Are they going around and confusing corporate fascimiles of 'loyalty', 'cheerfulness', 'individulity', etc. w/ the real thing? Do they go to bed at night and lie in the dark thinking about Holiday Autos?

Recuperate those dreams - transform them into fantasies of promotion and TEAMWORK!

10:42 / 18.07.02

For the first quarter of an hour I fully expected Chris Langan to come in with a People Like Us voiceover or that Dave Brent was going to sidle in with some cheery and self-serving words.

What can this company have been thinking, exposing their shitty management practice thus? Obviously they're like Tim in BigBrother, entirely lacking in insight, cocooned in a bubble of self-belief and expecting the world to admire their superior ways.

Staff turnover is clearly fairly high and retention poor, no wonder. But why do the ones who stay do so? Are the wages and other rewards so great? A lot of these guys had options by the sound of it. Jatesh was audibly conversing in four different languages within as many minutes of film. Talented guy, why doesn't he tell them to stuff themselves and find another job? I am confounded. Excellent tele though.

22:24 / 28.07.02

I wokred in a call centre for IBM. Fucking nightmare. Couldn't bear to watch the documentary. The! MEMORIES!!!!