Customer Reviews

Work Is Hell

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In "Work is Hell," Matt Groening, who would later bring us The SImpsons, concocts some very subversive laughs at the workplace with pearls like "The Secret of Success: 1. Get a job. 2. Get a better job. 3. Get an even better job. (repeat if necessary)"

You have to love the titles of the cartoons: "How to face up to your first job", "The 9 Types of Bosses", "The 81 types of employees" (including The Boss's Spy :), "How to Get Along With All The Jerks At Your Crummy Job," "Just How Bad Is Your Job," "How to Get A Raise (or humiliate yourself trying)," "So You Got Yourself Fired" and "How to Tell Everyone Off, Go into Business for yourself, be completely fulfilled and starve to death."

The rest of the book includes cartoons from the Life In Hell series such as "The Road To Manhood" and "The Road to Womanhood" and gratuitous Akbar and Jeff.

If you want to be "An Unrecognized Genius," Groening will help you determine what kind of genius you are, suggest things to hate, and remind you to practice your autograph for your impending fame.

This is an absolutely hilarious book.

I love the snideness of these Hell comics by Groening. It's reassuring to know someone else has been in a hellish workplace. "Chapter" 6 (How Bad Is Your Job?) rings so true of my first job particularly the bit about working with Dangerous Noxious Co-workers and "misery loves company" and "the company loves misery".

I never knew that being Hell could be so funny (afterwards).

I share Matt Groening's attitudes about the workplace almost across the board. Why, then, can't I express these attitudes as well as he does? Could he possibly be more talented than I? Could he be more creative? Nah! Must be dumb luck. He quit his day job and became a successful cartoonist. If I had quit my day job with a similar intent, I probably could have been his poster boy for "How to tell everyone off, go into business for yourself, be completely fulfilled, and starve to death."

I did recognize several of my past bosses and their management approaches in WORK IS HELL, particularly on the cover of the magazine, "Lonely Tyrant." Some of its featured articles were:

"Humiliating Some Poor Sap In Front Of Everyone Else"

"The Three Part Plan For Squelching New Ideas"

. . . . 1. Say "Put it in writing."

. . . . 2. Study idea carefully

. . . . 3. Ignore it completely

. . . . Repeat until employee gets the point.

"A Tense Office Is A Productive Office"

And, of course, "How To Make The Veins In Your Forehead Throb Alarmingly."

All of his humor is not restricted to bosses, however. There is a section devoted to the 81 types of employees with the 81st slot reserved for the readers own photo. I'm sure that most of us will recognize some of our co-workers here, and, if we are even a little honest, a description or two of ourselves.

WORK IS HELL is also an instruction manual with segments devoted to creative ways to kill time, how to play the game of work, and how (not) to get a raise.

I do have to mention one more instructive chapter: "How To Get Along With All The Jerks At Your Crummy Job."

If you are not a member of the idle rich nor were you born into royalty, there's probably some little tidbit hidden away in this book for you.

Sometimes stating the obvious is necessary. Matt Groening, with his cartoon characters that are this close to exploding, has reached deep into the black heart of manager/worker relationships and created this hilarious masterpiece. Anyone who has a job anywhere has got to find something in here that pertains to their job. Sadistic bosses, stupid co-workers, toe-the-line mid-managers, bad coffee, unrealistic demands and so much else is compacted into this overworked little book. Some of the bosses in this book make The Simpsons' Mr. Burns look like a boy scout. And that is hell indeed!

A dead on interpretation of the working world from the genius behind the Simpsons. Much of the humor is in the same vain as the Simpsons, so if you are a fan of the show, you will find "Life in Hell" books just as enjoyable. If you hate your job, or have ever hated a job, this book will speak directly to you. The book, which is a collection of the comic strip written mainly in the 1980's, deals with such things as the different types of bosses and employees and how an employee should act in certain situations. Each subject is brilliantly approached in a humorous and sarcastic manner by Groening, and each page will have you laughing out loud multiple times. An extremely enjoyable reading experience I highly recommend.

I'm not trying to date the book as it's lessons about work defy the passing of time, but I remember encountering "Life is Hell" in the L.A. Weekly back in the mid-eighties and I was dumbfounded at how these simple little cartoons could pack so much weariness and cynicism.
If you have trouble identifying with the themes and characters in Groening's work it might be time to step outside the mansion, put the Trust Fund aside and join the real world. Let this be your guide!

After I graduated college and 6 months of intense job interviewing and searching, I finally found a job in a field I wanted. What I didn't expect though was having to do it all day every day. Stuck in a room full of cubicles full of crazy people and scrutinizing crazy bosses doing the same thing over and over began to wear on me. I thought I was alone in thinking this was not normal. Everyone else seemed oblivious to this but me. I'd seen "Life In Hell" in an underground newspaper and picked this book up on a whim.

I suddenly discovered I wasn't alone in my thinking. I made one mistake, though - I showed it to another co-worker. They didn't understand it and gave me weird looks ever afterwards. They probably still work there in the same room then go home at night and cry and then scream like a banshee into a pillow.

I adore this book. Groening is a cartoon genius. I also LOVE his book "School is Hell". These little gems have me splitting my sides every time I pick them up. If you are stressed out--read this. You will laugh, and you will feel better.

This is going to make you feel like crap
even if you laugh your head off all the
way through the book...

Better be on welfare to read this.

Rebellion may follow if you are
a simple worker or a stupid boss.

You have been warned.

Now get back to work,
or get back to the bitterness
of your uselesness on this planet.

For those who are into sublime sarcasm and have to work for a living in some stressful situations.

The gift was wonderfully received.