From: Office Space
Genre: Movies
Who said it?: Milton Waddams
The story behind the quote: Office Space is a cult classic movie from Mike Judge, the creator of Beavis and Butt-head. The story generally focuses of a group of frustrated office workers who work for Initech, a software company, with their manager, Bill Lumberg. One of them gets accidentally hypnotized to enter a state of complete relaxation. So much so that he openly displays his lack of motivation while in the office. Oddly enough, this gets him promoted to a managerial position while his friends, despite trying their best to keep their jobs, are set to be downsized. This is a very rough summary and I know I’m not doing justice to this film describing it. Suffice to say, it deserves its cult classic status. There are a lot of scenes in this movie that are hilarious and memorable.
The quote happens near the start of the film. Milton (played by Stephen Root) is talking to his co-league Peter Gibbons and complaining about how management has been moving the location of his desk. He also mentions that, even though the company has switched staplers, he managed to keep his red Swingline stapler and, while delivering the quote, exclaims how important it is to him.
It is worth mentioning that, while Milton didn’t push through with what he said when his prized Swingline stapler was absconded, he did eventually burn down the office building because of all the abuse he was getting.
Geek wisdom: People will reach a breaking point. Even the meekest of people will suddenly snap when the pressure is too much. So it may be wise to never abuse others as this actually might be the last straw for them… and it always pays to be nice to people, by the way.