Directed by: Mike Judge
Starring: Jennifer Aniston, Gary Cole, Ron Livingston, Stephen Root, David Herman
Audio problem: When Bob tells Peter that he will be supervising 4 people, the audio doesn't line up with his mouth or with his holding up 4 fingers.
Audio problem: When Bob tells Peter that he's going to have four people reporting to him, the audio of the word "four" is not in sync with his mouth.
Continuity mistake: During Tom's BBQ when Michael Bolton and Samir are asking Tom's lawyer about prison you see Michael lose grip and drop his cup with a piece of ice hitting Samir in the head. When the ice hits him he's holding the cup in his left hand but when the camera angle changes the cup shows up in his right hand. (01:01:30)
Joanna: How dare you judge me! You are just this penny-stealing, wannabe criminal man.
Peter Gibbons: Well, that may be, but at least I never slept with Lumbergh.
Trivia: Director Mike Judge wanted the story to be able to take place anywhere, so the state is never specified. Even the license plates on the cars are stateless.
Question: While recognizing that this film is entirely fictitious, how likely is it that an IT firm in 1999 would have allowed a former employee access to the premises after being laid off, never mind continue to send him a paycheck as with Milton Waddams? I myself was fired the following year and got the walk of shame treatment ("you have 5 minutes to clear your desk - the taxi's waiting outside") which at the time already seemed pretty standard.
Answer: They never told Milton he was fired, they just cruelly cut off his paycheck, figuring he'd eventually get fed up and leave (he'd actually been laid off years ago, but a payroll glitch kept him getting a paycheck). The management is hoping if they're cruel enough, he'll stop showing up.
This is actually the reverse of what happened. The glitch caused him to continue to receive a paycheck, even though he'd been laid off. The "Bobs" corrected the glitch, so he would no longer receive a paycheck. In an effort to avoid confrontation, they chose not to say anything to him, hoping he'd realise it and leave on his own.
Answer: Simply because he is basically invisible to them. Anyone can walk into that place, no guard outside, no key-card required. Nobody cared. At least you got a taxi.
lionhead
Exactly. These things can happen. It depends on the place and how they operate. As recently as January 2024, I read about one young woman who went into a Kroger grocery store and worked for six hours, as an experiment. She has also done this at Target and Walmart. She wears clothes that look like a real employee's.