# Office Space movie question **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 25, 2019, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/office-space-movie-question/830141 "2019-02-25T00:00:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2019, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/office-space-movie-question/830141/41 "2019-02-25T23:52:22Z")
With the emphasis on new covers for the TPS reports, we have used up our stock of printer ink. We will not be able to print another TPS report until we get more ink, issue no TPS reports without the new cover sheet. You will still be expected to turn in your TPS reports on time. Thank you, Management. ---
**Author:** ![Mike\_Mabes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mike_mabes/32/1782_2.png) [@Mike\_Mabes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mike_Mabes)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2019, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/office-space-movie-question/830141/42 "2019-02-26T00:05:34Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > /nitpick “Mr. Gittes” Tell that to Noah Cross. He always pronounced it wrong ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2019, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/office-space-movie-question/830141/43 "2019-02-26T00:05:52Z")
PC LOAD LETTER was supposedly improvised (here’s one [cite](https://www.throwbacks.com/office-space-facts/), but I can’t find a primary source for it). We just watched this for the first time in 10 or 15 years and I’d forgotten how packed with genius it is. I get that it didn’t burn up the box office, because it doesn’t feel like a theatrical movie, but it definitely earns its cult status. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2019, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/office-space-movie-question/830141/44 "2019-02-26T00:20:07Z")
> [@Folacin](#): > > Backups? Most likely. Off-site backups? They should, but it seems like the sort of expense that someone might deem unnecessary. There is not an IT company in the world that does not do daily backups of everything on their system. Same for insurance companies and banks. And weekly backups and monthly back ups. And they are always stored offsite. I am fairly certain that their insurance policy will require it. ---
**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:** [February 26, 2019, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/office-space-movie-question/830141/45 "2019-02-26T00:37:25Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > The money is missing from thousands of different accounts; if the company was running normally, they’d eventually catch on after enough people complained, or accountants noticed the discrepancy, but in this case, the building has been burnt down, and the staff dispersed - so it’s possible that no one will notice. Even if they do notice, there is little reason to suspect the main characters - investigation will find no unusual money trail, and any physical evidence is burnt up. > > P.S. “PC Load Letter” means “P(aper)C(artridge) Load Letter(-sized Paper)” Wasn’t the program siphoning off roundups and roundoffs on the cents? (It’s been years, so I might not be remembering correctly.) No one ever sees the roundups, so no one notices that they’re gone from their accounts. As an example, say that an account is charged $76.53/hour for 3.2 hours of IT management. That’s a charge of $244.896. Now, you can’t charge anyone 0.6 cents. You can either round up or round off ($244.90 or $244.89). IIRC, the program was harvesting the tenths of cents from every charge being calculated and gathering them into an account for disbursal. The folks being charged won’t complain, because they’re getting the exact same charges as before. The folks receiving the bundled cents won’t complain, because they know what’s going on and want the money. The only way that the finagle could be discovered is if an auditor looks at the disbursing account and asks, ‘now what is this for?’ The auditor would then go looking for documentation to support the account and, oops, that all burned. ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2019, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/office-space-movie-question/830141/46 "2019-02-26T00:40:18Z")
The problem in the movie is that they misplaced a decimal in their roudoff harvesting program resulting in waaay too much being taken. ---
**Author:** ![Mike\_Mabes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mike_mabes/32/1782_2.png) [@Mike\_Mabes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mike_Mabes)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2019, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/office-space-movie-question/830141/47 "2019-02-26T01:44:15Z")
> [@snfaulkner](#): > > The problem in the movie is that they misplaced a decimal in their roudoff harvesting program resulting in waaay too much being taken. MUNDANE DETAIL, MICHAEL??? I just remembered that they discovered the 305K the day before the fire. That account number would have been in the back up, right? But would there be a name also? I would think Michael would not have programmed the virus to use a name. What happened in Superman 3? Another thing. How would Milton be able to deposit a 2nd party 305k check? Forge Peter’s signature? I think the bank would check. Anyway this is all just silly curiosity. Without the fire, the only way to end the movie would be Peter going to jail. I feel like what’s his name in Clerks, with somethingg in Return of the Jedi not “sitting right”. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2019, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/office-space-movie-question/830141/48 "2019-02-26T02:40:08Z")
> [@Mike\_Mabes](#): > > Another thing. How would Milton be able to deposit a 2nd party 305k check? Forge Peter’s signature? I think the bank would check. Without replaying the movie to see, weren’t the checks made out to something like “bearer” or “cash”? It’s critical to the plot that whoever has them can cash them. An error by Peter making them out this way could be excused by saying he didn’t know exactly who would deposit them and he wasn’t expecting them to fall into the wrong hands. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2019, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/office-space-movie-question/830141/49 "2019-02-26T03:05:36Z")
“Yes, I have a $305,000 check made out to ‘cash’ from that internet company that burned down last week.” … “Golly, is that suspicious?” ---
**Author:** ![str8cashhomie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7cd45c/32.png) [@str8cashhomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/str8cashhomie)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2019, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/office-space-movie-question/830141/50 "2019-02-26T03:17:19Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > Even a comprehensive list of common errors like “paper jam” But why does it say paper jam when there is no paper jam! You know some day I just kick this piece of shit out the window! > [@Mike\_Mabes](#): > > I just remembered that they discovered the 305K the day before the fire. That account number would have been in the back up, right? But would there be a name also? I would think Michael would not have programmed the virus to use a name. What happened in Superman 3? I believe they noticed an “accounting error” but assumed it was just an honest mistake. Also assumed in the movie is that the fire happened before anyone had a chance to look into it. ---
**Author:** ![Mike\_Mabes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mike_mabes/32/1782_2.png) [@Mike\_Mabes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mike_Mabes)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2019, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/office-space-movie-question/830141/51 "2019-02-26T03:45:47Z")
> [@str8cashhomie](#): > > But why does it say paper jam when there is no paper jam! You know some day I just kick this piece of shit out the window! > I believe they noticed an “accounting error” but assumed it was just an honest mistake. Also assumed in the movie is that the fire happened before anyone had a chance to look into it. Right. And even if they did look into it, there was no way to prove who did it. Thank god we cleared that up. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2019, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/office-space-movie-question/830141/52 "2019-02-26T13:02:47Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > “Yes, I have a $305,000 check made out to ‘cash’ from that internet company that burned down last week.” > > … > > “Golly, is that suspicious?” Yeah. If anyone is going to jail, it’s Milton, who actually did commit arson, and has inadvertently framed himself for embezzlement (he’s got the money, he burnt down the building - who is going to figure that the money came from someone else’s crime. And Milton can’t even claim that Peter was his accomplice - since he doesn’t know that Peter was involved). ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2019, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/office-space-movie-question/830141/53 "2019-02-26T16:16:41Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > Without replaying the movie to see, weren’t the checks made out to something like “bearer” or “cash”? It’s critical to the plot that whoever has them can cash them. An error by Peter making them out this way could be excused by saying he didn’t know exactly who would deposit them and he wasn’t expecting them to fall into the wrong hands. I don’t think we ever see. It’s just an envelope. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2019, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/office-space-movie-question/830141/54 "2019-02-26T19:20:06Z")
> [@Mike\_Mabes](#): > > Tell that to Noah Cross. He always pronounced it wrong You can’t tell Noah Cross _anything._ ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2019, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/office-space-movie-question/830141/55 "2019-02-26T21:52:24Z")
(Hijack) Last week, my company send me its monthly newsletter. One item was to welcome the new employees at my site. The second name on the list? Michael Bolton. For my money, I don’t know if it gets any better than when he sings “When a Man Loves a Woman.” ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2019, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/office-space-movie-question/830141/56 "2019-02-26T23:11:59Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > Yeah. If anyone is going to jail, it’s Milton, who actually did commit arson, and has inadvertently framed himself for embezzlement (he’s got the money, he burnt down the building - who is going to figure that the money came from someone else’s crime. And Milton can’t even claim that Peter was his accomplice - since he doesn’t know that Peter was involved). So, I rewatched this after my first post, and they’re travelers checks with no visible name or amount on them. Peter also puts a confession note in the envelope, so Milton would know who, even if he didn’t know how. Fun fact, in the he deleted scenes they’re talking afterward and the question of who went to Lumbergs’ funeral comes up, spoiler alert ‘hell no’ ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2023, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/office-space-movie-question/830141/57 "2023-03-15T14:58:20Z")
> **[An IT Expert Explains What Was Actually Wrong with the Printer from ‘Office...](https://www.cracked.com/article_37314_an-it-expert-explains-what-was-actually-wrong-with-the-printer-from-office-space.html)** > > ‘PC Load Letter’ was a real error code — with a surprisingly simple fix [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/office-space-movie-question/830141.md?page=2)