There are a lot of bad companies in the world of film and TV, companies that would be brutal work for like Inotech in Office Space. Those are hardly the only ones. Imagine having to show up to work every morning for Lumon in Severance. Or even a place that might seem like fun like Dunder Mifflin in The Office, would really be awful. Here is our list of companies that would be terrible to work for from TV shows and in movies.
Inotech (Office Space)
Bill Lumberg (Gary Cole) from Inotech in Office Space would be just a terrible boss to work for. The worst part is that he was just one of the many bosses working for the company. It’s no wonder everyone was so miserable that everyone had their idea on how to get out of the rat race, from embezzling money to burning the place to the ground.
InGen (Jurassic Park)
Sure, on the surface InGen in Jurassic Park would be an amazing place to work. It’s on a tropical island, there seem to be great benefits, and if you’re a scientist, it’s cutting edge work. Of course, then you have to consider the dinosaurs. Life will find a way and when it does, you’re going be in a lot of trouble.
Nakatomi Trading (Die Hard)
Let’s be honest, just having to work with a guy like Ellis (Hart Bochner) would be bad enough. Adding in an attack by a bunch of psycho thieves at the Christmas party and well, yeah, it would be pretty awful working for Nakatomi Trading in Die Hard.
The Dharma Initiative (Lost)
It’s pretty hard to decide what the worst job would be if you were a part of the The Dharma Initiative in Lost. Desmond being stuck in the hatch typing in the numbers ever few hours has to be close to the top of the list. It’s also very cult-like and for anyone who has worked for a company like that, they know just how weird it can be.
Omni Consumer Products (RoboCop)
Omni Consumer Products in RoboCop does some terrible stuff. It’s basically a company, led by an egomaniac, that has absolutely no moral compass. Sure, it’s a pretty dystopian situation in the world of RoboCop, but that’s no excuse, you need to do better than work for an awful company like Omni.
Kruger Industrial Smoothing (Seinfeld)
George (Jason Alexander) in Seinfeld had a few bad jobs on the show. When working for the Yankees is the best job, you know the rest have to be bad. Kruger Industrial Smoothing has to be the worst though. Mr. Kruger is a guy who just doesn’t seem to care about anything at all, and what in the world is “industrial smoothing”? Christmas at Kruger Industrial Smoothing seems especially annoying.
Pierpoint & Co. (Industry)
The British hit Industry shows all the worst sides of investment banking. One of the worst aspects of working in that industry is the cut-throat competition that all bankers deal with, especially at Pierpoint & Co o the show. Some may thrive, but most people would hate it.
Weyland-Yutani Corporation (Alien)
Weyland-Yutani Corporation from the Alien franchise is one of the most morally bankrupt companies on this list, and that is really saying something. Over and over it is clear that the powers that be don’t care one bit for the health and safety of their employees. Over and over, those employees wind up dead. You’d think someone would blow the whistle, but all these years later, Weyland-Yutani is still at it.
Dunder Mifflin (The Office)
Everyone loves The Office and we all love laughing along with all the whacky stuff that goes on every day at Dunder Mifflin. But think about it, how awful would you feel if you had to deal with Michael Scott (Steve Carell) every day of your life. IT wouldn’t take long before you lost it on him, right? It’s easy to understand why Jim (John Krasinski) is so miserable all the time.
Wernham Hogg (The Office – UK)
Perhaps the only place worse to work in a sitcom world than Dunder Miflin would be Wernham Hogg in the British version of The Office. Michael Scott is terrible, but David Brent (Ricky Gervais) is mean-spirited and just plain nasty sometimes, in addition to being a total idiot. How anyone ever works for Brent is really hard to understand.
Lumon (Severance)
This list has a lot of sketchy, miserable companies on it, but Lumon from Severance probably takes the cake for the worst. It has everything that makes everyone else terrible all wrapped up into one. Menial tasks with little reward, shady technology, psychopathic leadership, a cult-like atmosphere… the list goes on and on.
The Wonka Chocolate Factory (Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory)
Working at a candy company might sound like a dream for many people, until you learn that all of your co-workers are weird orange beings that are liable to burst into song at the drop of a hat. Add on to that a wildly narcissistic CEO who is completely unpredictable and throws up little tests all the time to test your loyalty and it’s safe to say you’d want no part of working for Willy Wonka.
Miller/Gold Talent Agency (Entourage)
Nobody wants to work for a boss whose base level is “yell as much as I can at everyone.” It might be a great place to get ahead in a tough entertainment industry, but working for Ari Gold (Jeremy Piven) on Entourage would be completely soul-sucking, right? Right.
The Springfield Nuclear Power Plant (The Simpsons)
Being a low-level drone in Sector 7-G at a nuclear power plant would be a pretty miserable existence. It seems to work for Homer Simpson, and he’s never permanently lost his gig, no matter what he does, but let’s be honest, Homer is an idiot. Anyone of even normal intelligence would be out there in a hurry.
Bluth Company (Arrested Development)
A family filled with morons running a company mired in controversy and corruption like the Bluth Company in Arrested Development sounds pretty awful on its face alone. When you get in there, you’d realize that the one family member who is trying to make it work can’t control anyone else in his family. Even working for the Banana Stand would be better than going into the office every day at Bluth.
Spacely’s Sprokets (The Jetsons)
Even back in the 1960s no one wanted to work for a giant corporation like Spacely’s Sprokets. Not only do they not make a real product (sprockets?) but Mr. Spacely is the worst kind of CEO, the kind that rules with fear and intimidation. That’s no way to run a company no matter what year it is. We should all have flying cars by now though.
Umbrella (Resident Evil)
As the name of the show implies, Umbrella, the over-arching company in charge of seemingly everything in the world of Resident Evil is, well, evil. The list of things it does that are pure evil is far too long to list in one place, but it’s safe to say that you could never truly feel good about your job here.
BiffCo (Back To The Future 2)
The future looks pretty bleak if Biff is in charge. After stealing the time machine and the Sports Almanac, Biff rakes up so much money that he can pretty much do whatever he wants. No one should have to work for a boss like Biff or a company like BiffCo. Who names a company “BiffCo” anyway? Beware the man who builds monuments to himself.
J. Peterman Company (Seinfeld)
The J. Peterman Company on Seinfeld doesn’t seem like the worst place to work. it’s a trendy catalog, and there is cake in the break room all the time. The serious drawback is working for an egomaniac like Peterman himself. It would be impossible to take orders from a guy like that.
Happy-Go-Lucky Toy Factory (Family Guy)
It would take about ten seconds to sour on a CEO like Jonathan Weed, owner of the Happy-Go-Lucky Toy Factory on Family Guy. His smug, pretentious behavior would get old quickly and there aren’t enough toys in the world to make going to work for a guy like that every day worth it. Peter got lucky when Mr. Weed died and the whole factory was torn down.
Sunshine Taxi Company (Taxi)
Two words, Louie De Palma. Or is that three? Either way working for Danny DeVito’s character on Taxi would be miserable. There are some appeals to driving a cab. You can make your own hours, and you can be alone with your thoughts a lot, but then you remember you have to return to the garage and put up with that jerk. No thanks.
Veridian Dynamics (Better Off Ted)
Senior vice-president of the Research and Development department at Veridian Dynamics sounds like a pretty sweet gig for Ted on Better Off Ted and for the most part, the day-to-day isn’t bad at Veridian. The problem is that it is the definition of a soul-sucking multinational conglomerate and it takes a real toll over the long term when you realize you are a completely replaceable cog in a giant machine.
E Corp (Mr. Robot)
A company like E Corp – what kind of name is that anyway? – would make anyone want to be a bad hat hacker working to bring the whole place down. They prey on the most vulnerable and have no morals or ethics whatsoever. This is easily one of the worst companies in television history
Hooli – (Silicon Valley)
It’s pretty easy to understand why anyone worth their salt would want to ditch Hooli and strike out on their own. Anyone would have been in the same kind of position with a company like Hooli, knows what it’s like to watch others benefit from your good ideas and hard work. Pied Piper is chaotic, but it’s theirs.
Zorg Industries (The Fifth Element)
Gary Oldman is brilliant as Zorg, the leader of Zorg Industries on The Fifth Element. The character is completely unhinged and that is not the kind of person anyone wants to work for, setting aside how awful the company itself is. It’s simply a company with way too much power.
On its surface ENCOM seems like a pretty standard technology company that could do a lot of good for the world. Then you realize it’s being run by a total megalomanic. Ed Dillinger cheated his way to the top, and holds onto his power in a ruthless and morally bankrupt way. He’s despicable.
MomCorp (Futurama)
Planet Express in Futurama may have it’s own set of issues, but working for its rival, MomCorp and dealing with Mom would be way, way worse. At least Planet Express feels like a family. Sometimes, anyway.
Soylent Corporation (Soylent Green)
There is nothing worse on this list than people serving people to other people and Soylent Green is people! That’s really all that needs to be said. It’s not the only terrible thing that the Soylent Corporation does, it’s just the worst thing in the world.
LexCorp (Superman)
It’s good to have a hard and fast rule that working for a supervillain like Lex Luther is never a good idea. LexCorp does so many evil things it’s hard to know exactly where to start when it comes to reasons why no one should work for a company like that. The worst thing might be that Superman, of all people, could show up and end everything you’re doing in a hurry.
Buy N Large Corporation (WALL-E)
The Buy N Large Corporation might have started as an innocent yogurt company but it grew into something far too large, with far too much influence and power. Like other companies on this list, it’s just too good for anyone’s own good.
Oscorp (Spider-Man)
Oscorp wasn’t started by one supervillain, it was started by two! Yeah, there’s no way anything you could do at that company would be for the good of anyone except the two evil geniuses that run it. Easy pass.
