Customer Reviews

Day Job: A Workplace Reader for the Restless Age

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Jon Baird really hit the nail on the head with this witty journal of a Twenty-something Customer Service rep experiencing corporate stupidity, and laying it out for all to see and experience. The layout is incredible. One that I think will start a new trend in off-line publishing

I love books that are different. When I saw this I bought it right away. I was not disappointed.

Day Job is just about the funniest thing I've ever read. The author is really demented.

My only complaint is it's physically tough to read at times, but it only adds to the charm of the book.

On the back of this book, it reads: Fiction/Business/Popular Culture.

Is this some well-disguised TQM book? In the back of the book, it has order forms for more books -- so that middle management can give them to all junior staff and say, "I understand you, dude: my office, five o'clock."

If it's not just a disguised TQM book, I'm awed by the brilliance. If it is a disguised TQM book, I'm disgusted. They've infiltrated our ranks and are using our own against us.

For all those Nietzche fans who woke up and found themselves working for a corporation. I haven't laughed this much since reading Confederacy of Dunces.

The book excellently depicts the main character's struggle with the inner conflict, between what he wants to do and what he is doing. Those of us who recently came out of school and into our first job would truly understand if this job was not what we had in mind.

It is a quick read and can be done in about 1-2 weeks during the lunch hour. The author truly captures the main character's emotions and issues and conveys it to the reader in a way that the reader can relate.

The knock-you-on-your arse, eye-candy layout was enough to keep me engaged for hours. After seven months working at my first "real" job, I have started to wonder where it's all leading, and to question how the heck I ended up here. Once I started "Day Job" I soon realized that I was not alone. It's as though Mr. Baird was sitting in the cubicle next to mine, capturing the various dramas and forces at play in the office. Laughing at these characters was like laughing at myself, which is just what the doctor ordered!

This book can be read on many levels. From its unusual layout complete with artistic gems in the margins, to the well researched literary allusions peppered throughout, it's quite an experience. The writing requires a someone delicate read - otherwise much of the subtle nuance could be glossed over - there are many hidden treasures in this book. I have an advanced degree in literature, and I would hold this up there with some of the better things I've read recently. It really captures the zeitgeist of the 90's workplace, as well as the angst-ridden humor of young corporate Americans.

The only reason I bought this book was that one of the authors has exactly the same name as I do. The oddest reason I have ever had for buying a book!!

Through the busy device of sidebars and margin notes left by a fictional consultant, this beautifully printed novel of "Total Quality Management" is as much an in-joke on the editorial nurturing of a novice journalizer as it is an experiment in loosely melding fiction with nonfiction guru-management primers. Laurance Allen's deadpan closing publisher's note buries the efforts of Baird (who also designed and produced this amusing and informing business reader) within the context of researchers, proofreaders, sources, editors, and, of course, the suits who made it all happen.

I think you've been watching too much of the X-Files! Paranoia is an unfortunate side-effect. The book is NOT by a TQM sympathizer-it completely makes fun of silly management initiatives. It's not sneaky--it's BRILLIANT!