Scott Alexander: The Dilbert Afterlife

Re:Scott Alexander: The Dilbert Afterlife by muyuu on Saturday January 17, 2026 @11:40AM (#46659424)

I don't have stats to back it up, but many people claim that Office Space made a lot of people resign their cubicle jobs and this was a sharp effect on its release.

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Re:Scott Alexander: The Dilbert Afterlife by astura on Saturday January 17, 2026 @01:54PM (#46660797)

Office Space was released in 1999, at the peak of the dot-com bubble. So, of course office jobs (particularly software jobs) would decrease when that bubble popped.

But it's not as a result of that movie.

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Re:Scott Alexander: The Dilbert Afterlife by margalabargala on Saturday January 17, 2026 @05:18PM (#46662656)

The specific claim made was a spike in voluntary resignations, which should be distinguishable from any bubble popping effect.

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Re:Scott Alexander: The Dilbert Afterlife by muyuu on Saturday January 17, 2026 @10:10PM (#46664493)

I specifically avoided making the claim because you really cannot prove either way

I remember when it was released, I graduated that year, and I remember the reactions at the time

it would still be anecdotal and it's hard to know how many people did in fact resign as a result of the impact from this film, and if it's something that would make any difference in the grand scheme of things

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