Handle Time
by Lincoln Park
Copyright: © 2008
196 Pages
$14.95 Paperback
$6.95 E-Book
ISBN: 9780615215181
Jane Fonda, Dolly Parton, and Lilly Tomlin have nothing on Lincoln Park. Her book, Handle Time, is 9 to 5 on crack rock! We all remember that type writer banging, coffee slinging, boss fondled, witty trio from the 80s movie which became a salute to the working woman!
Well, not much has changed these days in the way of office gossip despite the fact that we have to press one for English and spend more time on hold just trying to speak to an actual person. Lincoln Park’s witty book drips with the over-the-top office drama, I’m sure a ton of us middle class Americans can relate to, like decaf from the lunchroom percolator.
Are you trapped in a cubicle all day tied to a phone taking calls from bitchy customers? Do you work Monday through Friday listening to wining dead beats about their overdrawn bank balances? Are order entry and filing on your list of resume attributes? If you are sick of the water cooler humor and need someone outside of work who you can relate to, then buy this book!
We’ve all seen those humorous Youtube videos displaying dramatic office humor where employees snap and toss their computer monitors across the room, but those vids probably aren’t far from the truth. Meet Chase, Lincoln’s central character whose had enough! We barely get to know the poor girl as a character before she’s hauled out of the office on a stretcher.
But strap yourself in, because this roller coaster ride of a read is about to take you into the world of corner offices and cubicles which you probably didn’t know existed, and definitely don’t want to. Flash back to Chase and her friends landing top positions at Delstar Bank call center. Destined to beat standard middle class living outside of their bi-weekly paychecks, these trainees end up with more than they bargained for on their climb up the corporate ladder.
Like many of us, we kiss ass in interviews and wear a nice suit, only to become shackled to a desk with carpel tunnel and a telephone that won’t stop ringing. It’s the gossip and office drama away from our desk that helps beat the monotony of the day, but is that worth the bad wages we make and the abuse we put up with from customers? It’s enough to drive anyone postal, and this author’s in-your-face attitude will have you questioning, “is this worth 8 hours of my time each day?”
Dead beat coworkers with poor work ethics, pouty pregnant women whose men left them, computer geeks who know too much, fat chicks with low self-esteem… this book is chock full of colorful characters from cold CEOs to office supply stealing freaks. On one page, your heart is full of sympathy and you are rooting for the underdog, on the next page you find you are the underdog.
At 196 pages, Ms. Park’s book makes the sitcom, The Office, look like a cake walk. If you’ve ever hung up the phone for holding too long or cussed at the illiterate in India and demanded they get an American on the phone, or if you’ve ever been that employee on the other end of the line, then this book is for you! Taking office humor to a whole new level, I commend Lincoln Park on her tongue in cheek farce about the cubicle culture most of us wake up to everyday.
Hey you! Put down those post-its and stop sniffing your whiteout. And read this book!
I’d love to see this one as a mobi format book (here or on Amazon – since the book is available there in paperback).
Everybody at T-Mobile is talking about this book! She’s crazy! Are they going to make a movie?
Just from the review alone, this sounds like my office. Never a dull moment – enough strife and crisis to last a lifetime, and that was only what happened last week.
By the way, Shannon, I am amazed by the site you have put together and the depth of the reviews that you provide. Keep going!! This is great!
I just finished reading Handle Time and you are 100 percent right. I couldn’t put it down! She had everything from the Loch Ness Monster to Don Corleone in this book! I hope they DO make Handle Time into a movie.
I like to read books about choppers because that’s what I’m into and office books because I hate my job with a passion. I’ve read the Joshua Ferris book and the Personal Days and all the others. But out of all the office novels I have read so far, Handle Time is is my hands-down, favorite of the genre. It’s short, and funny as hell! This author goes out of her way to illustrate her sarcastic points on numerous occasions. I can’t say enough about how much I laughed! Call centers suck — and she hit the nail on the head. It’s about time someone came out with a good, blue-collar office book; instead of the ‘marketing manager’ crap I’ve been reading, as of late.
Your review inspired me to read this book. I loved it! Lincoln Park writes as if she is actually speaking to you across the table and you can’t stop laughing LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL I don’t have a lot of money these days to buy books, but Handle Time was worth every penny!
My daughter works in a call canter, and she gave me this book to read so that I could understand what her workday is like. I must admit… I have a new found respect for the representatives on the other end of the phone after reading HANDLE TIME. I must also admit that there are times that I have been short with these reps when I have spoken to them. Now, I think about the fact that the phone voice I’m speaking to actually belongs to a person who not only has to deal with my requests but also has to deal with (it seems) some pretty stringent work conditions. HANDLE TIME is extremely humorous, yet manages to make a serious point. I think my daughter is a super call center agent and I thank her for giving me this fascinating book!