Famous Fictional Bosses
(And How to Survive the Real-Life Versions)

There are some stories that stick with us because they’re just plain great yarns, but many are memorable because they relate (a little too closely) to our real lives. Some of the most successful movies and shows we watch are all about work, and more specifically, all about the bosses that drive us up the wall. Here’s a list of some of the top entertainment bosses we all love to hate with some tips on how to survive them if fiction is a little too close to your real life.

Meryl Streep as Miranda Priestly in The Devil Wears Prada

Oh, no. Clear the way, she’s coming through! If you’ve ever actually had a boss as demanding as Miranda Priestly, this movie may have been more painful than humorous to watch. She wants a steak with a nonfat mocha latte, and she wants it twenty minutes ago. How to survive a devilishly demanding boss like this? Take up yoga in your spare time, but on the job, make sure that you’re all about the details. Learn to anticipate their needs and beat them to their own requests. Over time, you may even earn their respect (and make yourself indispensable in the process).

Steve Carell as Michael Scott in The Office

Michael Scott, or as you may know him, Secret Agent Michael Scarn, is as goofy as it gets. Most of the time, the staff are the people trying to get Michael to get some work done. If you have a boss who is obsessed with five minute meetings that stretch to forty minutes, it’s up to you to make the rest of your work day really count. If your boss is always in your space and keeping you from being productive, consider trying to make your cubicle a working sanctuary. Invest in good noise cancelling headphones so you can tune things out for a few hours each day. Put a doormat at the entrance to your cubicle to keep unwanted visitors from invading your personal space—you’d be surprised how many people will halt at the sight of a doormat.

Gary Cole as Bill Lumbergh in Office Space

An ode to the underpaid, underappreciated worker, Office Space is a movie that just about anyone can relate to. And Bill Lumbergh, a casually tyrannical, memo-obsessed leader, is part of the reason why. “Um, yeah, if you could just” figure out a way to survive a boss like this, then you can make it through anything. Lumbergh is a rules-obsessed guy who somehow manages to spend most of his time pawing through the cubicle rows, coffee cup in hand, nagging workers about little details and slipping in demands that they work over the weekend. The best advice for workers stuck under the thumbs of Lumbergh’s is to keep your head down and try to play by the rules. In other words, do your TPS reports and move on. And, if smashing an old fax machine on \the weekends relieves stress, go for it (just don’t get caught).

Yes, these television and movie-screen bosses are most known for their, well let’s just say, shortcomings. But, if you peel back the layers (and then keep peeling), they may have a few hidden qualities that are worth emulating by real-life bosses. Miranda Priestly for instance, reminds us that sometimes tough love - when done respectfully - can catapult career growth; Michael Scott can teach us all a lesson in how to treat employees like people and not just worker-bees; and Gary Cole has to be admired for his devotion to the “company’s bottom line.”

As bosses day approaches this year, let’s all try to celebrate the positive characteristics of our bosses, even if in some cases they are difficult to find.