Little Britain v The Office

[D84]

For some reason I can't find the "race card" episode, where for awareness training Michael Scott makes them all put up different cards with different races (although a couple of them are Italian, and Indian) on their foreheads that they haven't seen. They're instructed to guess what their card says based on the "charades" they do of one another's races. It was painful to watch.

Yeah I've seen that one. I think it's the 2nd episode. Yes, very painful to watch. But that's whole point isn't it? The social trainwreck, yeah? And "playing the race card" is a short-cut to that.

As for the Diwali song that's pretty tame.

I had a middle management boss who was a social trainwreck too... Nothing overtly racist or sexist - just not very good at managing people and their expectations etc. And he had a flair for the "theatrical" let us say..

But a lot of it is to do with ordinary people being thrust into these artificial hierarchies (and positions of authority etc) which create these absurd situations. It's become trite to say "the corporate system is flawed" but that's why these shows exist: to critique it and show us how it's flawed in an entertaining, dramatic way.

 

[muser]

little britain is total bollocks, catchphrase comedy is morphine for the masses, didnt watch the office that much but I hlaf enjoyed it when I did, extras is brilliant imo.

 

[swears]

I think The Office was good at highlighting a baffling occurence: The Socially Inept Boss.
My last boss was a complete idiot. She had no social skills, talked to everybody like they were eight years old, would scold someone one minute, and try patronisingly to befriend them the next. After talking to her for five minutes you could tell she had major personality flaws, and I find this baffling because who would pass a person like this for a job interview to "manage" other people? Someone who spends half an hour talking to her husband on the phone and then has a go at someone for using the phone for five minutes?
Half the day she would be yacking repeatetively about soaps or her interior decorating, the other half would be spent staring gormlessly into space. Well, she got demoted eventually anyway, so I suppose there is some justice in the world.

 

[noel emits]

I think The Office was good at highlighting a baffling occurence: The Socially Inept Boss.
My last boss was a complete idiot. She had no social skills, talked to everybody like they were eight years old, would scold someone one minute, and try patronisingly to befriend them the next. After talking to her for five minutes you could tell she had major personality flaws, and I find this baffling because who would pass a person like this for a job interview to "manage" other people? Someone who spends half an hour talking to her husband on the phone and then has a go at someone for using the phone for five minutes?
Half the day she would be yacking repeatetively about soaps or her interior decorating, the other half would be spent staring gormlessly into space. Well, she got demoted eventually anyway, so I suppose there is some justice in the world.

There is the theory that in hierarchic organisational structures people tend to be promoted to positions just above their level of competence, thus leading to overall complete incompetence in such organisations

 

[Slothrop]

There is the theory that in hierarchic organisational structures people tend to be promoted to positions just above their level of competence, thus leading to overall complete incompetence in such organisations

And the competing theory that incompetent people are promoted to management to stop them messing up the stuff that actually matters...

 

[nomadologist]

There is the theory that in hierarchic organisational structures people tend to be promoted to positions just above their level of competence, thus leading to overall complete incompetence in such organisations

And boy is that theory completely dead on. Middle management is the bane of your existence when you work in university admin. They make no money for the institution, make no significant policy change, yet they take huge salaries to micromanage associates' mail duties, and get to go sit at dinners and take credit for the $50 mill gift other people solicited. Guh. End rant.