Summary Of Orientation: White Collar Workers In Office Space

This dark, alarming revelation of how disturbing the white collar workplace can be better illustrated in “Orientation.” In the short story, the workplace seems alien and the humans in the story seem to forced to be devoid of emotions. Everything in the economic work space has an order and a place, including who one can talk to and only after one has received permission from someone else. The representation of white collar work is almost haunting. The first few lines of the short story write, “This is your phone. Never answer your phone. There are no personal phone calls allowed. If you must make an emergency phone call, ask your supervisor first (Orozco).” In this piece of literature, the office space is portrayed at methodical and slightly

The speaker describes how if the employee, Larry Bagdikian’s, six daughters all simultaneously became extremely ill, the girls would all be covered. The speaker states states, “Larry’s girls would all be taken care of. Larry Bagdikian would not have to pay one dime. He would have nothing to worry about (Orozco).” This once again reveals how white collar workers are seemingly only concerned about money. Since most white collar workers find absolutely no joy in their job, the only reason they choose the remain employed at the company is so that they will have a source of income. Thus, this over-exaggeration serves its purpose by highlighting this aspect. Office Space and “Orientation” describe the cubicle and the economic space of white collar work in different, but still negative ways. As a classic film of the 1990s, Office Space was one of the first films that brought attention to how the office cubicle was restraining and oppressive. The film showed how the dull, sterilely conformed office was incapable of bringing any worker happiness while employed there. “Orientation” brought attention to how nothing that happen in the workplace has to have a cause. Everything is determined by the manager and it should not be