A Comedy of Terrors

Boss, in sing-songy voice, to Boyce, who's soon to be married: "You want to fit into that wedding dress, don't you?"

Boyce, a size 4, stares at boss, slack-jawed.

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Some people can sit back, watch "The Office" and think how great it is they don't have to work for that boss anymore. Others find comfort in that writers can channel their own office and turn it into something humorous. But for some people, the show plays way too close to home and represents all that is wrong in the work world.

"I know it's like a caricature of what's going on. But I got myself really frustrated because the situation's not too dissimilar. . . . The impact of their behavior is felt all over America. While the scenarios may be different, it was too close to home for me. I stopped watching," said Heather Bradley, a workplace consultant who deals with dysfunctional workplaces. "As someone who has the profession of changing the way people work, I can't watch the show."

But this is television . It's supposed to be fiction. It can't really happen in the real workplace, right?

"This parody is really just like a blown-out version of what we deal with all the time," said Howard Guttman, author of "When Goliaths Clash: Managing Executive Conflict to Build a More Dynamic Organization." Perhaps Dunder Mifflin could hire him: He is also a consultant who helps fix dysfunctional executive teams. And his work is never-ending. He could write an entire season of "The Office" from a week's worth of meetings.

The characters in the show might as well have been taken from our own co-worker rolls. And they probably were. Many offices employ at least one Dwight, the nerdy, wannabe boss who isn't exactly smart. He is a yes-man who will trip over himself while trying to get the boss's attention. In the meantime, of course, he annoys his co-workers. Then there's Pam, the receptionist stuck in a job she fell into. She's would rather be doing something -- anything -- else. But there's no hint of that ambition. You can almost see her thinking "I can't believe I work with these idiots" during most of the workday. There's also Jim, the guy who is similar to Pam -- and has a crush on her. He's smarter than his job requires him to be. People drive him nuts, but he deals with it by playing practical jokes. He particularly likes to taunt Dwight. There was that excellent phase he went through when he kept putting Dwight's office supplies in Jell-O.

But mostly, it comes back to the nightmare boss. He's the anti-P.C. guy. He is self-centered and thinks he is much more important than he is. Sexual harassment has no meaning to him. Think of the worst-case scenario when it comes to diversity training, and you've got Michael Scott. It is his personality that most resonates with real workers, who have more than their share of Michael-like boss stories.

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ENTER VIENNA GOVERNMENT CONTRACTING FIRM:

T an boss stands in middle of office. He has just returned from Hawaiian vacation with wife and has called employees into conference room. Employees, interrupted from work, gather around table and sit, looking cautiously from boss to slide projector warming up overhead.