Office Wit and Wisdom

Book excerpt: Companies around the world have a tendency to take young, healthy individuals, suck them dry of energy and creativity, and then spit out the desiccated husks with never a backward glance. In order to survive this process, it is necessary to laugh. Office Wit and Wisdom encourages us to appreciate the funny side of office life and includes a dictionary of management-speak, with definitions of those strange phrases only ever uttered within the confines of the office; a field guide to office personalities (sadly, we all know those executives who punch the air and whoop as they hit their targets); the horrors and pitfalls of email and internet browsing at work; and a sobering analysis of office parties: years of commuting, unpaid extra hours, and working lunches rewarded by warm white wine and public humiliation by karaoke.