# Is Office Space set in the 80s? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 23, 2015, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-office-space-set-in-the-80s/720634 "2015-05-23T03:30:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2015, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-office-space-set-in-the-80s/720634/21 "2015-05-24T15:05:48Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > The only time in the movie I recall Michael comparing something they’re doing in a movie is the moment when they’re planning to shave micro-cents off of transactions. That happened in _Superman III_ (1983) and Michael explicitly says that. This is my recollection as well. I guess there could have been a reference to _Hackers_ at some point too, but _Hackers_ had been neither a popular movie nor a legendary fiasco so it doesn’t strike me as the sort of movie people would be referencing even a few years after its release. Wikipedia tells me that _Hackers_ (like _Superman III_ and _Office Space_) does involve a “[salami slicing](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salami_slicing)” scheme, but circa 1999 I think all most people knew about _Hackers_ was that Angelina Jolie was in it and it was a dumb movie that had something to do with hackers. As for the OP, if _Office Space_ looks like the '80s to you then I’m guessing you’re too young to remember much about the actual '80s. The characters aren’t people who’d be wearing the trendiest new styles of 1999, but for regular office workers (many middle aged) it looks about right to me. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2015, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-office-space-set-in-the-80s/720634/22 "2015-05-24T15:29:45Z")
> [@Ponch8](#): > > CorporateaccountspayableNinaspeaking…justamoment! - Thank\* you. I have NEVER been able to decipher that sonic blur. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2015, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-office-space-set-in-the-80s/720634/23 "2015-05-24T15:31:07Z")
The round-down scam far predates both movies in reality - it was done in at least two cases, by mainframe programmers for large banks, in the late 1960s and early 1970s. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2015, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-office-space-set-in-the-80s/720634/24 "2015-05-24T15:53:46Z")
> [@Suburban\_Plankton](#): > > It was released in 1999, and I see no reason to think it was set in anything other than “present day”. This. I still have to wear a tie. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2015, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-office-space-set-in-the-80s/720634/25 "2015-05-26T21:33:34Z")
hajario: > [@](#): > > The rest were button up shirts and slacks other than casual Friday. After five or six years had passed, every day was casual Friday. But Hawaiian Shirt Day is still special! ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2015, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-office-space-set-in-the-80s/720634/26 "2015-05-26T21:47:02Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > . . . People in the '80s and '90s were looking back to the '50s and '60s and wondering why people wore such small glasses. That’s just how style works. It was probably also technology related. As lenses got lighter, you could create larger styles without digging grooves into people’s faces. So not only did it look new because it was different from the last fashion cycle, it was newly possible for the first time ever. (Unless I got the dates wrong. Then nevermind.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-office-space-set-in-the-80s/720634.md?page=1)