Grumpy Old Workers

by stuart-prebble

Whether we are celebrity chef or hapless waiter, engineer or oily rag, commissioning editor or TV producer, all of us have a whole daily wagon-load of s**t to deal with in the name of work. From boardroom to boredom, from 'what's the point?' to powerpoint, from 9 to 5 to P45. And that's what this new book from uber-grump Stuart Prebble is all about; the utter everyday relentless crapulence of working for 'the man', or indeed 'the woman'.The workplace is a piece of cake for someone of his curmudgeonly quality. It's not possible in a book of this size to include ALL the grumps arising from the working day - the office politics, the shortcomings of IT, the interminable meetings and some of your colleagues' weirder habits, but he is giving it a go. Grumpy? I'll say we are.

Genres: Humor

Hardcover

First published September 18, 2008

Reviews

[Hannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I must admit, I enjoyed Grumpy Old Workers the least out of all the Grumpy titles I've read. It's purely a generational thing. Despite the grumpy category being 45-54, and I only being 20, I've always identified with what the Grumpies have to say. I think this genre was just a bit of a gap for me. I've never had an office job, what Prebble mainly speaks about, and I don't have decades of experience in the workforce to be bitter or grumpy about. At one point in the book Prebble even mentions a concept, and says that if I as the reader don't know what it is, I'm too young to be reading it, and I should put it down immediately. I didn't know what he was talking about, and I think that was probably the biggest hint that this is one area I'm just too young to be grumpy about, or even understand and identify with their grumpiness (for which I am slightly grateful).

This isn't to say I didn't get a few laughs out of the book, and I still applaud Prebble's style and ability to capture a mood so tangibly, but when it comes down to it, the generation gap finally won out, and I just couldn't identify enough with these themes to really enjoy the book for the humour it most certainly would have had.

[Tim · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of a series of ' Grumpy Old...'
Being a Grumpy Old Man with an office background so much of this strikes true. Indeed his chapter on ' meetings ' one after the other achieving little if any result particularly.
Now being retired I now work as a volunteer with a government/council funded body. Large numbers of staff seem to spend inordinate time in various meetings at various locations in the county.
Three months ago I was asked to attend such a meeting, I have yet to receive a copy of the minutes where it was decided what actions were to be taken as a result of that meeting, neither has anyone else.

[Glenn Keenan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great book and an easy read. A book about the good and bad things when it comes to the world of work. Always entertaining while at the same time very thought-provoking. This guy really is a Grumpy Old Man.