The French Take on "Office Space"

April 12, 2005— -- You slave away for years in a cubicle the size of a phone booth. You never take all your vacation time and always say "yes" to the boss. You do all this and more in the hopes of being recognized by the bigwigs and of someday reaching the holy grail: the top rung of the corporate ladder.

But what for? asks Corinne Maier, French author of "Hello, Laziness: Jumping Off the Corporate Ladder."

Already a best seller in Europe, Maier's satirical book on the workplace hits U.S. bookstores next month. Her cynical take on corporate life may question the French work ethic, which differs greatly from America's workaholic attitude, but she's convinced American workers suffer similar woes.

Maier's worker manifesto denounces corporate culture as rigid and empty-headed, likening its effect on workers to kids eating sugared cereal and watching TV all day. The 40-year-old economist urges employees to shed their work ethic and find ways to do what you really want to do.

"I am poking fun at the institutional boredom companies instill in their workers," she said in a phone interview from her home in Paris.

In her book she describes what she despises about corporate life -- from pretentious buzzwords like "downsizing" to managers idling about, getting paid oodles more money than the worker bees.

"France is an old country, it's very hierarchical and very authoritative and from a very young age we are taught to submit to the rules of society," she said, adding that French corporations are stuck between bureaucratic overload and ancient practices, which translates to demoralized workers on autopilot. Making it worse is the nation's unemployment, which is nearly double America's 5.2 percent rate. "If you have got a job, hold on to it, go through the motions and survive doing nothing," she said.

Looking at the self-help shelves of most bookstores, Americans are at the other end of the spectrum when it comes to careers and money.