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| The Entertainment Review |
| By: Michael Flocker Publisher: Da Capo Press |
The business world is a very confusing place to be. The laws and rules of business change from one setting to the
next, though there are some things about any business or office that stays the same. “Death by PowerPoint: A
Modern Office Survival Guide” offers the everyday employee an insight into the life of the drone and queen bees of
the business world. While the queen bee is able to sit all day while her slaves are at her every beck and call and
feed her the royal jelly that no one else is worthy of having, the drones work until the day they die with no real
benefits. Sadly, it is too close of a comparison to the real world of business, the people at the top do very little other
than bossing around those below them, while the workers work every day until they die with very little benefit.
Of course this book doesn’t take everything in the business world seriously, it instead takes a satiric approach to
exploring the ins and outs of the corporate world. Author Michael Flocker, who also wrote “The Metrosexual Guide to
Style” and “The Fame Game,” describes employee personalities and situation that occur in the office, and explains
how to go about dealing with each situation or how the readers can protect themselves and stay under the radar and
out of the peering eyes of the higher ups. Flocker describes what employees can do during boring meetings and
how to dress properly on Casual Friday, because everyone knows that Casual Friday doesn’t really mean casual.
Readers will also be informed on how the cubist culture was started and what cube decorations say about the person
that inhabits it. There is no topic in corporate culture that is ignored in this book. Readers will be taught how to stop
a passive-aggressive communicator’s attempts to pass off work and protect themselves from being stabbed in the
back. Also, the corporate lingo that is used in the office is covered in the book, and a majority of the terms are fairly
new, so readers may be able to learn something new to bring to the office.
There is a chapter on e-mail etiquette that adds very little new information, but the book would feel incomplete without
it. Also, since most offices don’t skip the mandatory fun events, readers would do well to read the chapter on how to
deal with the fun events that employees must attend, or suffer the consequences.
Anyone reading “Death by PowerPoint: A Modern Office Survival Guide” must take care in deciding whether they
should follow the advice given since some wouldn’t work very well for the average workers, while other advice could
lead to some very memorable moments at the office. This book offers a lot of tips and a much needed laugh at the
expense of the corporate world. Readers should handle this book as a humorous book, rather than a self help
book. Anyone looking for some comic relief or an escape from the chains of the corporate world, this is a fun and
easy read that can lighten any word day. It will help anyone with a case of the Mondays from going insane.
next, though there are some things about any business or office that stays the same. “Death by PowerPoint: A
Modern Office Survival Guide” offers the everyday employee an insight into the life of the drone and queen bees of
the business world. While the queen bee is able to sit all day while her slaves are at her every beck and call and
feed her the royal jelly that no one else is worthy of having, the drones work until the day they die with no real
benefits. Sadly, it is too close of a comparison to the real world of business, the people at the top do very little other
than bossing around those below them, while the workers work every day until they die with very little benefit.
Of course this book doesn’t take everything in the business world seriously, it instead takes a satiric approach to
exploring the ins and outs of the corporate world. Author Michael Flocker, who also wrote “The Metrosexual Guide to
Style” and “The Fame Game,” describes employee personalities and situation that occur in the office, and explains
how to go about dealing with each situation or how the readers can protect themselves and stay under the radar and
out of the peering eyes of the higher ups. Flocker describes what employees can do during boring meetings and
how to dress properly on Casual Friday, because everyone knows that Casual Friday doesn’t really mean casual.
Readers will also be informed on how the cubist culture was started and what cube decorations say about the person
that inhabits it. There is no topic in corporate culture that is ignored in this book. Readers will be taught how to stop
a passive-aggressive communicator’s attempts to pass off work and protect themselves from being stabbed in the
back. Also, the corporate lingo that is used in the office is covered in the book, and a majority of the terms are fairly
new, so readers may be able to learn something new to bring to the office.
There is a chapter on e-mail etiquette that adds very little new information, but the book would feel incomplete without
it. Also, since most offices don’t skip the mandatory fun events, readers would do well to read the chapter on how to
deal with the fun events that employees must attend, or suffer the consequences.
Anyone reading “Death by PowerPoint: A Modern Office Survival Guide” must take care in deciding whether they
should follow the advice given since some wouldn’t work very well for the average workers, while other advice could
lead to some very memorable moments at the office. This book offers a lot of tips and a much needed laugh at the
expense of the corporate world. Readers should handle this book as a humorous book, rather than a self help
book. Anyone looking for some comic relief or an escape from the chains of the corporate world, this is a fun and
easy read that can lighten any word day. It will help anyone with a case of the Mondays from going insane.
