A Critical Look at The Movie Office Space

Muhammad Ali Imran Bin Adnan -SW01082399-

One of the challenges faced by the main character, Peter Gibbons, in his office was the displeasing
sounds made by the surrounding co-workers. Having to work in a tiny cubicle with not many walls to
deplete the surrounding noises, Peter would have to endure the jarring sounds while continuing to do
his work. In one of the scenes set in the early time frame of the movie, Peter had just shown up to
work after a tiring drive to work. While trying to do so, one of his female co-workers, Nina, who
seems to be working as a telephone operator, kept on repeating the same sentences, “Corporate
account payable, Nina speaking, just a moment.” on and on and is utterly annoying. Milton, the guy
sitting on the desk in front of Peter, was also causing disturbance by turning the radio up. After
confronting Milton, he didn’t seem to be bothered by his actions and instead began to be mumbled out
words. Furthermore, the sounds of phone buzzing, paper being jammed into the printer and people
talking was lingering all over the office which could be very disturbing for corporate workers. The
scene shows the lack of communication of the entire working team to provide a conducive and
peaceful environment that is suitable for each other’s. Peter, who was stressed out with all the noises,
didn’t seem to do much to tackle the problem, he instead accepted his fate and continued with his
work.

Throughout the movie, various characters were introduced, from friends and family to the company’s
boss, Bill Lumbergh, who Peter seems to hate most. Despite hating is boss, Peter had no other choice
but to obey his words. Lumbergh doesn’t seem to care much about his employees as long as the
company was running, and he was able to gain profits from the company’s stocks. Peter, who had
always been so unmotivated and frustrated with his job was always picked on by Lumbergh, he was
told to work on the weekends and not given any days off. In the beginning, Peter had tried to avoid
Lumbergh as much as he could so that he wouldn’t be given any extra work, unfortunately it did not
work out that well. Peter, who does not know how to voice his opinions, would always get used by the
other employees, causing him depression and sometimes nightmares. Peter had undergone a
hypnotherapy treatment in hopes of gaining his will to live, while undergoing the treatment, his
therapist died in the middle of the session, and Peter was left in a blissful state. Despite his condition,
he was happy and never felt so alive in his entire life. He was able to speak up for himself. He skipped
his work in the weekend as he “didn’t feel like it.”. He started to ignore the words of Lumbergh and
do as he pleased, dressing inappropriately to work, leaving his jobs undone to go fishing and more.
Yes, what he did was undeniably wrong, but this was the moment in Peter’s life in which he was able
to make his own decision, the point of his life in which he was doing what he loves rather than being a
robot and repeating the same old routines every day. Ironically, despite his misbehavior, he was
promoted as a manager by the consultant.

Furthermore, another character who influenced Peter badly was none other than his own friend,
Michael Bolton. Lumbergh had hired a consultant to remodel the employee structure of Initech.
Having no luck, Michael was fired to bring in more new employees to replace him. Knowing this,
Peter was furious and planned out a heist to steal a fraction of the company’s money. Peter was
reminded of a time in which Michael had told him that he could easily develop a virus to hack the
company’s system, he then urged Michael to do so and even bring in Samir into their plan. Although
Michael and Samir were hesitating at first, Peter was able to convince them. After planting the virus
into the system, money began to be transferred into their bank account. In my opinion, what Peter did
was wrong as he deceived the entire company for his own benefit. Although it seems like he is doing
so for his friends, in my perspective, he did that just as an act of revenge on Lumbergh after
everything that he had done to him. Peter should have figured out a different option to deal with this
issue instead of stealing just to feel good. Even so, he did not get caught as the company’s building
was caught on fire and all the evidence was burned away.

In general, the movie did taught me a lot of valuable lessons. First of all, communication is the key to
everything, especially in the workplace. It is important because it boosts employee morale,
engagement, productivity, and satisfaction. Communication is also key for better team collaboration
and cooperation. Ultimately, effective workplace communication helps drive better results for
individuals, teams, and the entire organization. And to do so, learning the way of communication is a
stepping stone into a better lifestyle. For example, in class we learned that effective communication
would lead to a better business relation, more productivity, streamlined workflow and more. A few
checklists to follow to ensure effective communication is to always show respect, empathy, patience
and more. Communication is what makes our professional and personal relationship go smoothly. It’s
how we show care, catalyze change, and get things done.

Lastly, sometimes in life, all we need to do is listen. Throughout the entire movie, it is shown that
Peter doesn’t really have anyone who is there to listen to him, all the emotions he had were pent up
inside of him and eventually hurting him. His wife was cheating on him, his boss was using him from
head to toe, co workers were driving him crazy, that is the sole reason on why Peter was so
unmotivated all the time. The least we could do for someone who is facing hardship is to just sit down
and listen. Allow them to spill everything out and clear their mind. It doesn’t seem much, but I
personally believe that doing so would help them release all the pent-up feelings. Just by listening, we
never know how much help we could do to others.