http://www.tropicofcubicle.com A liquidated inventory of ephemera from the modern office Mon, 16 Jun 2008 23:48:12 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en http://www.tropicofcubicle.com/2005/07/22/the-end-of-office-blogging-i-promise/ Sure, everyone in each office ad I’ve covered is stuck in the 9 to 5 grind, but the people (and animals) portrayed in this group, titled Marooned in a Cube, tap upon their keyboards with an added dollop of fatalism. These men, women, and monkeys, the ad agencies let on, ... http://www.tropicofcubicle.com/2005/07/21/office-ads-marooned-in-a-cube/ I noticed that Douglas Coupland uploaded a cover shot of his forthcoming novel jPod, due out in 2006, to his website. The book is a follow-up to his ’90s office novel Microserfs, perhaps the first to dig heavily into the tech-driven, West Coast-style office culture. Back in a 1998 article ... http://www.tropicofcubicle.com/2005/07/20/douglas-couplands-jpod/ The ads in this group, titled Unlimited Access, try to humanize their respective, faceless, greedy corporations by showing “real” employees at work and by intimating an open door policy whereby any customer could infiltrate the ranks and get personal demands met. It’s no coincidence that all three companies here are ... http://www.tropicofcubicle.com/2005/07/19/office-ads-unlimited-access/ Alex, let’s just say Fridays haven’t been the same since you were transferred from Tulsa. Just as Tiger Woods dons the red shirt for the final round of play in each professional golf tournament, you drape yourself in the blood cloth of the toreador, mix up some mojitos, and hang ... http://www.tropicofcubicle.com/2005/07/18/employee-of-the-week-alex/ At some point, the office — in addition to being a place of work and grave capitalistic seriousness — became a place of fun or, failing that, at least faux fun. Monitors were suddenly covered in toys and candy. Closets were converted into video game hangouts. Soon, HR Departments everywhere ... http://www.tropicofcubicle.com/2005/07/15/the-office-of-little-boys-and-little-girls/ Some are bitter, some are crackpot prophecies, and some have cheesy cover art, but all are self-help business books offered by print-on-demand notables iUniverse, Lulu, or Xlibris. Your First 90 Days In A New Job (How To Make An Impact) by William Robinson Excerpt: One of the hardest conversations to have with a person ... http://www.tropicofcubicle.com/2005/07/14/self-published-self-help-business-books/