Adminisphere/Playing With

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Basic Trope: The higher-ups in a company have it much better than the people beneath them.

  • Played Straight: XYZ Inc. consists of a warehouse and an office building. The warehouse meets only minimum standards of an acceptable workplace, while the office is a cushy, well-paying, all-around-pleasant place to work.
  • Exaggerated: The warehouse has No OSHA Compliance and no HR department or labor union, while the office is barely like coming to an office at all.
  • Inverted: The office has crumbling walls, extremely dated computers, drafty windows, and low pay, while the warehouse is as cushy as Google.
  • Justified:
    • Managerial office positions are often different (and better-paying) than entry-level work (especially that which involves manual labor of some kind.)
    • People start out at the bottom in this company and earn privileges and better working conditions.
  • Subverted: The warehouse has reasonably good and safe working conditions, as does the office.
  • Double Subverted: But people in the warehouse earn minimum wage (with few or no raises), and don't get paid vacation time like the office workers do.
  • Deconstructed: This sort of thing can lead to resentment and low morale...leading to decreased quality of work and possibly strikes.
  • Reconstructed: The HR department goes a major overhaul, to see that all workers are treated fairly and have the best possible working conditions and perks to keep morale (and quality) up.
  • Parodied:
  • Lampshaded: A sign on the door to the warehouse reads "Abandon hope, all ye who enter."
  • Averted: Both the office and the warehouse have equally good (or not-so-good) working conditions.
  • Enforced: Truth in Television
  • Invoked: XYZ Inc. needs to cut costs, and since the Pointy-Haired Boss at the top of the daisy chain doesn't want to make sacrifices himself, he imposes harsh cost-cutting measures on the warehouse.
  • Defied: Bob the Boss knows that would hurt morale and work-quality, so he finds ways to cut costs without sacrificing working conditions or benefits.
  • Discussed:
  • Conversed:
  • Played For Laughs: Work Com
  • Played For Drama: Someone gets hurt in a work-related accident, and the higher-ups don't care. This leads to a strike.

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