History YMMV / OfficeSpace

** While Lumbergh is clearly a dick, there are some who see his behavior as intended to help the company (with the exception of his treatment of Milton).
*** He clearly shows up to work on the weekend when everyone else has to and most of his annoying commands are basic details of Peter's job. It is implied that the company is backed up with [=Y2K=] companies, so it seems reasonable for Peter to work overtime to clear the backlog. The problem is that this interpretation only looks at the surface details of Lumbergh's behavior without considering the effect his actions have for the company at large.
*** To wit: he has everyone stop what they're doing so he can give speeches on how they need to help the company, adds make-work and red tape to everything, doesn't seem to actually do any work himself, spends money on consultants just so they can tell him to fire his most competent employees (and argues with them when they make a decision he doesn't like), kills efficiency and productivity by asking people to work 7 days a week to catch up on projects, steals personal property from employees, etc. It is telling that the Bobs deduce that Lumbergh doesn't even bother to ''read'' the [=TPS=] reports he supposedly cares so much about.
*** Not to mention Lumbergh clearly happily takes pleasure in constantly [[KickTheDog tormenting Milton]], ranging from the simple task of moving his desk to intentionally sidestepping saying he was fired, effectively making Milton work for free. Implying he isn't merely incompetent but he's a sadist who ''enjoys'' tormenting his employees with awful work hours and insufferable assignments.

*** In defense of the former, they seem just as cold to the employees as Lumbergh, advising him not to confront Milton on the fact that he was fired while withholding any pay for work he might do.
*** In defense of the latter, they've interviewed dozens or hundreds of employees, most of them likely lying about their work ethic or accomplishments or daily routine or how they feel the company is doing, clearly interested in saving their own job. Then they interview Peter, telling the absolute truth to them about how Initech has serious problems and he has no incentive to help beyond his job description. There's a good chance they feel he's someone who can help turn the company around by actively fixing problems rather than push them aside or cover them up like others. The fact that they [[KickTheSonOfABitch also grill Lumbergh himself]] for being dismissive of Peter's complaints proves that while their job isn't exactly kind, they take it very seriously.

*** From his explanation, it's entirely possible he had a job back when the company was young before the Internet bubble started and his fax machine and secretary imperceptibly made him superfluous, and getting rid of him is exactly the kind of thing the Bobs ''should'' do, and he's right to be worried. His argument for why he should have a job, his supposed "peoples' skills", is rendered moot since he blows the interview pretty quickly. Having such an ill-tempered man interacting with customers is probably not something any sane company would want.

** Peter does literally the bare minimum he can and then decides to rob the company because they dare to expect him to do work for his paycheck (and convinces his friends to help based on their oncoming layoffs) which leads to near imprisonment for his friends. On the other hand, he only planned the robbery when he was told about those friends getting fired despite their greater competence and work ethic, lacks work ethic himself because he's disincentivized to do any more than the bare minimum, and when things started going wrong he chose to take the blame to protect his friends.
*** There are major movements within software development that are based around the conclusion that over-managing people can make them less productive as they are stripped of all initiative and become completely dependent upon their bosses. It actually parallels research showing much lower achievement for children of helicopter parents - being constantly monitored, they don't develop sufficient independence. While there are those who are unproductive because they are legitimately trying to do the bare minimum, there are plenty who are doing the bare minimum because they have been stripped of all motivation. That was the core of Peter's meeting with the Bobs: he's not lazy, he just has been given no reason to care.

** While Lumbergh is clearly a dick, there are some who see his behavior as intended to help the company (with the exception of his treatment of Milton). He clearly shows up to work on the weekend when everyone else has to and most of his annoying commands are basic details of Peter's job. The problem is that this interpretation only looks at the surface details of Lumbergh's behavior without considering the effect his actions have for the company at large. To wit: he has everyone stop what they're doing so he can give speeches on how they need to help the company, adds make-work and red tape to everything, doesn't seem to actually do any work himself, spends money on consultants just so they can tell him to fire his most competent employees (and argues with them when they make a decision he doesn't like), kills efficiency and productivity by asking people to work 7 days a week to catch up on projects, steals personal property from employees, etc. Not to mention Lumbergh clearly happily takes pleasure in constantly [[KickTheDog tormenting Milton]], ranging from the simple task of moving his desk to intentionally sidestepping saying he was fired, effectively making Milton work for free.

** The Bobs: they've interviewed dozens or hundreds of employees, most of them likely lying about their work ethic or accomplishments or daily routine or how they feel the company is doing, clearly interested in saving their own job. Then they interview Peter, telling the absolute truth to them about how Initech has serious problems and he has no incentive to help beyond his job description. There's a good chance they feel he's someone who can help turn the company around by actively fixing problems rather than push them aside or cover them up like others. Granted, they don't know that Peter is going to just rob the company, and Tom sincerely believes they are there for one and only one reason - fire as many employees as they can in order to drive down costs. The fact that they [[KickTheSonOfABitch also grill Lumbergh himself]] for being dismissive of Peter's complaints proves that while their job isn't exactly nice, they take it very seriously.
** Tom: from his explanation, it's entirely possible he had a job back when the company was young, before the Internet bubble started and his fax machine and secretary imperceptibly made him superfluous, and getting rid of him is exactly the kind of thing the Bobs ''should'' do, and he's right to be worried.
*** Tom's job is actually ''incredibly'' important at any tech company (essentially, it requires an understanding of how to turn generally loose, vaguely-defined customer requirements into concrete specifications that the engineers can do something with, while also conveying to customers exactly what is and isn't possible; as such, it requires two discrete skillsets that not many people have.) He just does a terrible job explaining it, which could be attributed to how on edge he very obviously was when the interview took place.
*** Moreover, the suggested replacement of customers interacting directly with engineers is itself disastrous, as any time engineers spend explaining their job is time spent not doing it. Given one of the hidden aspects of Tom's job is to prioritize and collate these issues before talking to the engineers, he's preventing redundant reports from tying up the engineers' time. This (as well as the other decisions by the Bobs) is meant to underline that the Bobs don't know what they're doing.

** Nina the secretary seems to be one of the only non-management staff members at Initech who isn't only not completely miserable working there but is visibly happy in every scene (TruthInTelevision - secretaries, at least today, generally have higher-than average job satisfaction). Being a secretary may not be as high up on the corporate ladder as management, but it's still higher than being a cubical worker, and her attempts at friendliness ("Someone's got a case of the Mondays!") are [[CondescendingCompassion just as dismissive as Lumberg's droning lectures]]. Is her too-cheery attitude the result of her, like Lumberg and the Bobs, lacking sympathy for anyone working a more frustrating job under them, does she genuinely like her job, or is she just better at dealing with the inanity of office work than most people and actually believe that everyone else is just being a stick-in-the-mud?

** While Lumbergh is clearly a dick, there are some who see his behavior as intended to help the company (with the exception of his treatment of Milton). He clearly shows up to work on the weekend when everyone else has to and most of his annoying commands are basic details of Peter's job. The problem is that this interpretation only looks at the surface details of Lumbergh's behavior without considering the effect his actions have for the company at large. To wit: he has everyone stop what they're doing so he can give speeches on how they need to help the company, adds make-work and red tape to everything, doesn't seem to actually do any work himself, spends money on consultants just so they can tell him to fire his most competent employees (and argues with them when they make a decision he doesn't like), kills efficiency and productivity by asking people to work 7 days a week to catch up on projects, steals personal property from employees, etc. Not to mention Lumbergh clearly happily takes place in constantly [[KickTheDog tormenting Milton]], ranging from the simple task of moving his desk to intentionally sidestepping saying he was fired, effectively making Milton work for free.

** The Bobs: they've interviewed dozens or hundreds of employees, most of them likely lying about their work ethic or accomplishments or daily routine or how they feel the company is doing, clearly interested in saving their own job. Then they interview Peter, telling the absolute truth to them about how Initech has serious problems and he has no incentive to help beyond his job description. There's a good chance they feel he's someone who can help turn the company around by actively fixing problems rather than push them aside or cover them up like others. Granted, they don't know that Peter is going to just rob the company, and Tom sincerely believes they are there for one and only one reason - fire as many employees as they can in order to drive down costs.

* CatharsisFactor

* CultClassic: 20th Century Fox had no idea how to market the film, resulting in it just barely breaking even on it's original release. Once it hit home video and aired on Creator/ComedyCentral, it became a cult classic.

** Nina the secretary seems to be one of the only non-management staff members at Initech who isn't only not completely miserable working there but is visibly happy in every scene. Being a secretary may not be as high up on the corporate ladder as management, but it's still higher than being a cubical worker, and her attempts at friendliness ("Someone's got a case of the Mondays!") are [[CondescendingCompassion just as dismissive as Lumberg's droning lectures]]. Is her too-cheery attitude the result of her, like Lumberg and the Bobs, lacking sympathy for anyone working a more frustrating job under them, does she genuinely like her job, or is she just better at dealing with the inanity of office work than most people and actually believe that everyone else is just being a stick-in-the-mud?

* {{Adorkable}}: Joanna. Just look at the awkward way she plays with her hair and fumbles with things on the table on her first date with Peter. And, of course, she loves kung fu movies.

** In one scene, Peter tries to shut down his [[UsefulNotes/AppleMacintosh Mac]] quickly. It shows an MS-DOS-like command line, which Macs in 1999 did not have until a couple of years later with the release of the UsefulNotes/{{Unix}}-based Mac OS X. This was actually intentional on the part of Mike Judge. In the way that character traits are combined into a single person to make an "everyman", elements of Windows and UsefulNotes/MacOS were combined to make a "generic" computer that anyone could relate to, whether they used Windows or Mac.

* FridgeBrilliance:
** Milton's ramblings about his stapler are actually ''accurate.'' The Swingline brand stapler is a far more reliable model than the cheaper, flimsier Bostedge brand. Also counts as FridgeHorror when you realize that you've been working a white collar office job long enough to appreciate that.
** The cake scene also makes sense in regards of Milton once you realize [[spoiler:that Milton has ceased being an actual employee long before that point.]]
* FridgeHorror
** Peter is bugged over his TPS reports by no less that ''five'' people - Lumbergh, Dom, Michael, Samir, and an unnamed person on the phone. Later on, he mentions he has ''eight'' bosses, all of whom hassle him every time there is a screw up. This means that he was nagged five ''more'' times offscreen over the TPS reports.
** The Bobs were hired to ax staff when higher-paid management was clearly redundant, and potentially the primary source of waste at Initech.

* AdaptationDisplacement: his film is much better-known than the ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' cartoons on which it's based.

* FridgeHorror: Peter is bugged over his TPS reports by no less that ''five'' people - Lumbergh, Dom, Michael, Samir, and an unnamed person on the phone. Later on, he mentions he has ''eight'' bosses, all of whom hassle him every time there is a screw up. This means that he was nagged five ''more'' times offscreen over the TPS reports.
** Another layer of fridge horror: the Bobs were hired to ax staff when higher-paid management was clearly redundant, and potentially the primary source of waste at Initech.

* {{Adorkable}}: Joanna. Just look at the awkward way she plays with her hair and fumbles with things on the table on her first date with Peter. And, of course, she loves ''Film/KungFu''.

** While those with jobs similar to Peter's may not be as ungrateful to have them as he is, the environment of said jobs has not changed ''at all''. Office employees are still expected to deal with trivial bureaucratic crap like TPS report cover sheets, mission statements and timesheets, as well as having to answer to multiple bosses. Even the uncooperative technology persists to this day. The long-term psychological effects of working these sorts of jobs for too long, such as depression, are also taken a lot more seriously.

* JerkassWoobie: Michael. It's clear that his love of hardcore gangsta rap is his way of coping with the self-esteem issues and pent-up anger resulting from having an embarrassing name that he's constantly being asked the same stupid question about and working at a job that's not only unpleasant but ungrateful.

* {{Applicability}}: ''Anyone''' who's ever held down at least one job has probably worked at one that felt just as insufferable as Peter's. Plug any job into the story and nine times out of ten, whoever's worked or is currently working them will find themselves laughing at how much the movie reminds them of their own annoying co-workers, [[BadBoss incompetent or even abusive superiors]], stifling environments and trivial nuisances that they're expected to put up with at the expense of their own well-being.

* CultClassic: 20th Century Fox had no idea how to market the film, resulting in it just barely breaking even on it's original release. Once it hit home video, it became a comedy classic.

* {{Applicability}}: A big reason why the film eventually became a classic is that '''anyone''' who's ever held down at least one job has probably worked at one that felt just as insufferable as Peter's. You could plug any job into the story - white collar, blue collar, food service, whatever! - and nine times out of ten, whoever's worked or is currently working them will find themselves laughing at how much the movie reminds them of their own annoying co-workers, [[BadBoss incompetent or even abusive superiors]], stifling environments and trivial nuisances that they're expected to put up with at the expense of their own well-being, simply because it's what's best for "the business."

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: Due to the nature of working in the tech field and a viewer's knowledge thereof, several characters qualify for these.

* {{Applicability}}: A big reason why the film eventually became a classic is that '''anyone''' who's ever held down at least one job has probably worked at one that felt just as insufferable as Peter's. You could plug any job into the story - white collar, blue collar, food service, whatever! - and nine times out of ten, whoever's worked or is currently working them will find themselves laughing at how much the movie reminds them of their own annoying co-workers, [[BadBoss incompetent or even abusive superiors]], stifling environments and trivial nuisances that they're expected to put up with at the expense of their own well-being, simply because it's what's best for "the business," even if their job in question isn't anything like Intech or Tchotchkes. The actors have even said that every fan they've ever met has been dumbstruck by how much the film feels like it was based on their specific workplace experiences.

** A nebbish, talented and beleaguered office worker who deals with the pent-up anger from their job by singing along to hardcore music. Are we talking about Michael Bolton or [[Anime/{{Aggretsuko}} Retsuko]]?