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Serving the UMN community since 1900

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Back to the salt mines

David Rees would prefer not to work.

Anyone who has ever worked for a large corporation knows a lot of BS happens. There are too many boring training sessions, too many pointless team projects and too much fake encouragement from upper management. So for those stuck in a cubical this summer or fearing the day you’re forced to get a real job, remember that in addition to stealing office supplies, David Rees is here to help keep you sane.

Rees, the author of the comic “Get Your War On” (which now appears in Rolling Stone), takes free downloaded clipart images and uses them to create over-the-top office conversations concerning the war on terror. It’s most easily comparable to the movie “Office Space” turned into a comic. Rees creates an odd yet hilarious juxtaposition with wholesome office workers from clip art exclaiming such phrases as “Oh yeah! Operation Enduring Our Freedom is in the mother-fucking house!”

Now Rees battles the stupidity of the corporate workplace with his latest “My New Filing Technique is Unstoppable.” He brilliantly pokes fun at the ambiguous office jargon of “lending indexes” and “location files” and points out the meaninglessness behind printouts, bar graphs and, of course, lavish filing systems. The big joke is that none of the characters know the point of any of the things they are forced to do.

The greatest character appearing in this book is Dr. Fanderbiles, who sells his mottos to companies, supposedly to result in improved employee morale. He gives workers such absurd maxims as: “You’re a failure because you didn’t put your quest for achievement above your quest for being an ASSHOLE.”

“My New Filing Technique is Unstoppable” doesn’t have the same potency as “Get Your War On.” Nonetheless, the book is still a worthy showcase of Rees’ some-day classic humor.

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