The Office Zoo: A Guide to Survival at the Bottom of the Hierarchy in Today's High-Tech Workplace

A survival guide for those of us who will spend our working lives in positions of relative powerlessness, hoping to fit in, stay employed, avoid drama, and survive each day without long-term psychological damage. Help! My job is eating my life! Constant instant communication, escalating management demands, automated monitoring tools, the perpetual threat of layoffs, difficult coworkers—are they deliberately calibrated to drive a sane person crazy? In high-tech work, the velocity of change and frantic pace magnifies the impact of these issues. If your goal is to get through the day and walk away with sanity intact, read "The Office Zoo". Lee Wellington, a veteran of 35 years on Silicon Valley's front lines, recounts her survival and coping strategies along with penetrating and humorous descriptions of coworkers who require 'special handling'; and a few words of appreciation about their potential good points—which can be easy to overlook.