"It is really irritating to work with irritating people"
- Joshua Ferris
"We had visceral, rich memories of dull, interminable hours. Then a day would pass in perfect harmony with our projects, our family members, and our coworkers, and we couldn’t believe we were getting p..."
"The funny thing about work itself, it was so bearable. The dreariest task was perfectly bearable. It presented challenges to overcome, the distraction provided by a sense of urgency, and the things ma..."
"What separated the living from one another could be as impenetrable as whatever barrier separated the living from the dead."
"They were like two inviolable spheres touching at a fine point in their curves, touching but failing to penetrate, failing to breathe the other's air."
"Some people would never forget certain people, a few people would remember everyone, and most of us would mostly be forgotten."
"I've tried reading the Bible. I never make it past all the talk about the firmament. The firmament is the thing, on Day 1 or 2, that divides the waters from the waters. Here you have the firmament. Ne..."
"If in large part we were concerned only with making it through another day without getting laid off, there was a smaller part just hoping to leave for the night without contributing to someone’s lifet..."
"We had these sudden revelations that employment, the daily nine-to-five, was driving us far from our better selves."
"It was madness to leave without your useless shit. You came in with it, you left with it--that was how it worked. What would you use to clutter a new office with if not your useless shit? We could rem..."