You’re A Very Bad Person, Peter Gibbons
As much as we don’t want to admit it, Peter Gibbons is a bad example. Jennifer Aniston’s character actually uttered the real moral of Office Space, and it went against Peter’s philosophy.
” Most people don’t like their jobs. But you go out there and find something that makes you happy.”
Of course her character isn’t perfect. She’s slept around, like a record. This might even explain why she’s so quick to meet Peter on a whim and meet up with him later to “watch Kung Fu” at his place. She’s sexually promiscuous, but she still is the bearer of the moral.
Peter is wrong. His desire to “do nothing” is laziness. Pure and simple. Doing work isn’t always fun, and Mike Judge knows this. He worked dozens of jobs before he turned 30, and they all sucked. But he did them anyway. And years later, he was able to use his experiences to create incredible satire.
If Peter “does nothing” instead of working, he has no choice but to turn to crime. Even though he convinces himself and co-workers that it’s not wrong, there’s no way to deny it. He IS wrong. He needs money, but instead of working for it he expects it to just come to him. This is what bums do. Instead of working, they wait for change to fall out of a pocket like a remainder at the end of a decimal.
The first half of the moral is obvious in the story. “Most people don’t like their jobs.” Sure. Easy enough to understand, and agree with. But the second half requires we read a little more into things: “You go out there and find something that makes you happy.”
This second half is ambiguous on purpose. Instead of saying, “you suck it up and do your job anyway,” the key phrase is “go out there.” This is the opposite of “nothing.” If Peter actually wants to be happy, he has to take action. Happiness is not found in doing nothing, but in doing everything possible.
It’s a seemingly simple idea, but a profound attack on the vice of laziness. Work is a part of the pursuit of happiness. If we don’t go after that job, we won’t get it. If we don’t try, we will fail.
Peter Gibbons is a bad person because his idea of happiness is backwards, to the point that it becomes criminal and dangerous. The attitude it took him all of the movie to attain meant folly in great proportion. “Fuckin’ A,” was what he could have said about his job in the office. He could have said, “Fuckin’ A. I’ve got a job and other other guys don’t. I’ve made friends like Michael and Samir because of this job.” But instead he saw nothing but the negative.
Just the same, if he hadn’t learned by the end of the film that his own attitude matters, he could have been working construction saying “My back hurts. I’m dirty and gross. This work sucks.” but instead he looked at the positives (fresh air, makin’ bucks).
Happiness is a pursuit. Vice and folly prevent us from attaining happiness. If we want to have a job that makes us happy, we have to pursue just that. We can’t settle for a job we never wanted, nor can we “do nothing.”
