Office Space is a cult 1999 comedy film written and directed by Mike Judge. It satirizes work life in a typical software company during the late 1990s, focusing on a handful of individuals who are fed up with their jobs. The film's sympathetic portrayal of ordinary IT workers garnered it a cult following among those in that profession, but also addresses themes familiar to office workers and employees in general. It was filmed in Austin and Dallas, Texas.

Office Space is based on the Milton series of cartoons Mike Judge created for Saturday Night Live and Liquid Television.

Office Space was Mike Judge's second foray into film (the first being Beavis and Butthead Do America). The box-office failure of Office Space (the box office profit was about $800,000) is often attributed to the film's lackluster and misdirected promotional campaign. Advertising often cited Beavis and Butthead, ensuring that audiences would expect a brand of humor similar to that of the creator's previous animated efforts, rather than the relatively low-key ironic humor of this film. It has since sold well on video and DVD, and some of the movie's dialogue has entered into the popular lexicon since its release.

In a cube farm setting evocative of the Dilbert comic strip, the film depicts the daily grind of Initech workers Peter, Michael, Samir, and Milton. Soon after the movie begins, two consultants (John C. McGinley and Paul Wilson), nicknamed "The Bobs" since they both have the same first name, are brought in to Initech to help with cutting expenses by downsizing and outsourcing. The workers at Initech are then interviewed in order to determine which employees are to be shown the door.

Peter Gibbons (Ron Livingston) is a programmer who spends his days updating bank software to remedy the then-expected Y2K disaster. His co-workers include Samir Nagheenanajar (Ajay Naidu), whose last name no one else can pronounce; Michael Bolton (David Herman), who is angry that he shares his name with the real-life singer; and Milton Waddams (Stephen Root), a soft-spoken, fixated collator who mumbles to himself incessantly (most notably about his co-workers borrowing his "stepler") and is repeatedly harassed by management, especially the callous vice president Bill Lumbergh (Gary Cole). Lumbergh is Peter's nemesis—a stereotypical corporate middle-manager who spends most of his time wandering the office with coffee mug in hand, wears white-collared shirts, suspenders and a belt (considered a fashion faux pas), and emotionlessly micromanages his employees while engaging them with superficial small talk.

Meanwhile, Peter is stressed, burnt out, and ineffective, and will likely be first on the Bobs' downsizing list. Fortunately, something unusual happens during the occupational hypnotherapy session urged upon him by his soon-to-be ex-girlfriend Anne. The obese "occupational hypnotherapist", portrayed by Michéal McShane, suddenly dies of a heart attack before he can snap, or "unhypnotize", Peter out of a state of complete relaxation. The newly-relaxed and still half-hypnotized Peter announces that he will not work anymore, instead pursuing his lifelong dream of "doing nothing," and finally asking out Joanna (Jennifer Aniston), a waitress he's long wanted to date. During his interview with the Bobs, Peter unreservedly speaks his mind about the absurdity of his job and of how Initech is run. The Bobs interpret Peter's candor, easy-going attitude, and lack of regard for his job as evidence that he is a prime candidate for a managerial position. Much to his surprise—and Lumbergh's dismay—Peter receives a promotion while his friends Samir and Michael, two of his department's best employees, are scheduled to be fired.

In order to get back at the company, the three friends decide to infect the accounting system with a computer virus which will round down fractions of a cent from accrual of interest and transfer the leftovers into their own account (see salami slicing). Peter, when questioned by Joanna about what he and his friends had been celebrating, attempts to diminish the sense that he is doing something illegal by comparing the theft to taking the pennies from the penny tray at a convenience store. The plan however backfires when the virus program takes $305,326.13 in one day. The three friends are certain that such a large amount going missing in so short a time period will be noticed and result in their arrest. After a crisis of conscience, Peter decides to write a letter in which he takes all the blame for the crime. Peter slips an envelope containing the letter and the money (in unsigned traveler’s checks) under the door of Lumbergh's office when Lumbergh is not there, expecting to be arrested soon afterwards.

However, all their problems are solved when Milton snaps after Lumbergh, who had taken away his beloved red Swingline stapler, moved his desk to a cockroach-infested storage room in the basement, and stops him from receiving paychecks. Milton sets the Initech office building on fire (after having warned that he would "burn down the building" throughout the film), destroying all the computers and the virus code, but not before first taking the envelope with the traveler's checks for himself. (According to a deleted scene, the fire also killed Lumbergh.) Peter finally finds a job that makes him happy working construction with his neighbor Lawrence (Diedrich Bader), Samir and Michael get jobs at Initrode (a rival company), and Milton makes his way to a resort in Mexico with the traveler's checks.

Cast and character notes:
Artie Lange also auditioned for the role of Milton.
Lumbergh's ring is an EarthForce Academy class ring, which Gary Cole had also worn on Crusade.
The DVD release contains a scene not included in the theatrical release which establishes a different fate for the character of Bill Lumbergh. In one deleted scene, characters refer to his funeral. In the theatrical release, he does not appear in any of the final scenes.

In popular culture:
Several phrases, items and concepts from the film have found their way into common usage (particularly in office environments):

PMITA prison refers to 'pound me in the ass prison' as opposed to soft time in white collar prison.
TPS report — denotes any type of pointless office paperwork, based on the film's satirical example of such work.
PC Load Letter — an actual laser printer error message indicating that the printer needs letter-sized paper, but more generally a catch-all for any nonsensical error message. The "PC" in the phrase stands for "Paper Cassette," a paper reservoir for many printers.
The Fax Machine — In the movie, this appliance's unreliability finally prompts Peter, Samir and Michael to take baseball bats to the device in an open field as "Still" by the Geto Boys plays, in a scene visually referencing a violent episode in Casino. The term Office Space-style, or "Going Office Space on" is used to refer to this type of destruction
Did/Didn't you get that memo? — refers to a question a worker is asked by multiple supervisors at varying levels.
O-Face — refers to a facial expression made during an orgasm.
Lumbergh Fucked Her - refers to a woman's alleged promiscuity; her apparent willingness to have sex with anyone, even someone as hate-inspiring and unbearable as Lumbergh.
A case of the Mondays — refers to expressions of frustration at one's job (especially on Mondays); phrase is used by a cheery co-worker to describe Peter's attitude at the start of the film, and again later by Brian, the insufferably upbeat Chotchkie's waiter.
Red Swingline stapler — The item that is the only constant in the life of abused employee Milton Waddams, who snaps after it is stolen. The red Swingline didn’t exist when Office Space was released (a prop department employee, named Ric Trzeciak, painted one PPG red, according to the film's commentary), but due to popular demand Swingline released a limited run of the red version in 2004. The official Swingline product page describes the product thus: "Discover the stapling star of any office space - the bold head-turning design and legendary performance of Swingline's Rio Red Stapler."
Pieces of Flair — refers to the mass quantities of buttons and pins Joanna is required to wear while working at the fictional Friday’s-esque restaurant "Chotchkie's," as in the title of the 2005 "Special Edition, with Flair" DVD release. (Tchotchke is a Yiddish word meaning "worthless trinket"—like the pieces of flair). Peter Gibbons criticises the practice, saying, "You know, the Nazis had pieces of flair that they made the Jews wear."

Television:
The animated Office Space short appeared on Liquid Television (MTV) in 1992, involving Milton and his stapler.
In the similarly-themed British television series The Office, "Pete Gibbons" is mentioned on two occasions as a former Wernham Hogg employee.
Although Gary Cole is credited as supplying numerous voices on the Fox series Family Guy, he reprised his role as Bill Lumbergh in the episode titled "The Father, the Son, and the Holy Fonz."
The Venture Brothers episode titled "I Know Why the Caged Bird Kills" a reference to the quantity of "flair" one was required to wear could be heard in the opening scenes office chatter.
There are three known "Milton" animated shorts which aired on SNL during the 1993-94 and 1994-95 seasons (93a, 93p, 94d.)
In the television series Lost, John Locke has a flashback of working in a cubical office and being harassed by his obnoxious boss, Randy, asking about TPS reports.
In the episode "The Redneck on Rainey Street" of the animated series King of the Hill, Kahn Souphanousinphone tells his boss on the phone that he has filed his TPS reports.
The infamous red swingline stapler is seen in an episode of Scrubs when Dr. Percival "Perry" Cox is seen talking to Elliot Reid through such a stapler.

Commercials:
In the series of Reebok commercials featuring "Terry Tate: Office Linebacker," after one of his devastating hits on a co-worker, he yells "You know you need a cover sheet on your TPS Reports, Richard! That ain't new, baby!"
In a promotional ad for an episode of the show 30 Days about job outsourcing, series creator Morgan Spurlock is seated in an office cubicle. He drinks from a coffee cup and says the Lumbergh line "Yeah, we're gonna have to move your desk ... to India."
Blizzard Entertainment used a scene in this film in a commercial for World of Warcraft. The scene in particular was of Peter playing Tetris on his work computer while blowing off Lumbergh. The Tetris game running on the monitor was digitally replaced with footage from World of Warcraft, and the game's box was digitally added to the top of the monitor. Additionally, the Cheetos on Peter's desk were digitally replaced with WoW CDs.
In a commercial for Absolut Vodka, it showed the Absolut: Case of the Mondays with the scene of the fax machine being pummeled.

Music video:
In the video "Virus Alert" from the album Straight Outta Lynwood by Weird Al Yankovic, people are observed running from the flaming Initech building.

Video games:
In the video game Enter the Matrix, in a scene set in an office building, there is an area where you can hear two employees discussing TPS reports, and referring to one having the other's stapler.
The video game F.E.A.R. contains several levels with shootouts set among cubicles in an office building. Papers entitled "TPS Report" litter desks, notes with the phone number to "Chotchkie's" are on cabinets and there is a red Swingline stapler on one of the desks. A poster paper entitled "Planning to Plan" adorns a wall. Also, the logos for the fictional companies of Armacham Technologies in F.E.A.R. and Initech in Office Space are strikingly similar.
In the MMORPG City of Heroes, a series of missions revolve around the villain Nemesis replacing office workers with robotic copies. As the player fights them, they refer to TPS Reports.
In the computer game Counter-Strike, TPS reports can be seen on the shelves in the multiplayer online map cs_office. On the same multiplayer map, the computer screens display a Windows desktop with an opened window titled "TPS report".

Internet:
Milton's line, "I believe you have my stapler," was turned into a popular internet fad on such websites as YTMND, along with the "fax" scene.