Hello Laziness: The Guide to Slacking Off at Work

Posted on July 8, 2005

Corinne Maier is raising some eyebrows in her native France with her new book, Hello Laziness: Why Hard Work Doesn't Pay by Corinne Maier (Pantheon). Her thesis is that all the real work is being outsourced to China, and that workers in most coporations spend all their time "strategizing" about the business and learning absurd corporate doublespeak. She states that, because no one really knows what most people are supposed to be doing all day, that one might as well do as little as possible. But it's important to at least give the impression of working hard, and she has lots of tips and tricks for that. Her boss in France was so angry about the book he tried to have her fired. But her union stuck up for her and her boss was left to stew in resentment. She says she stays in her job simply to annoy him.

Now, we're off to perfect our technique of sleeping with our eyes open, so it appears that we're staring at the computer screen while we're actually far away in the land of Nod.