10 workplace lessons from 'The Twilight Zone' (continued)

July 6, 3:46 PMSF Workplace Communication ExaminerKenya McCullum

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6. Excellence will kill you. Lew Bookman is a sidewalk salesman of little ambition until he meets Mr. Death, who makes a courtesy call at his apartment to let him know that he will be passing at midnight. Bookman quickly uses his sales skills to convince Death to allow him to live until he makes a great pitch. Death agrees and Bookman makes it clear that he will never make another pitch again—that is, until the Grim Reaper decides to take a young girl in his place. Bookman makes the pitch of his life to save the child, and is soon led away by Mr. Death to heaven. (Episode: “One for the Angels”)

7. Your coworkers are a lot worse than you think they are. If you think the things your coworkers say are obnoxious, just try listening to their thoughts for a day. Bank employee Hector B. Poole accidentally develops telepathy and is horrified at the things he learns about the people he works with—his boss is having a torrid affair, a corporate client is borrowing money to play the ponies, and a trusted coworker plans to fill his briefcase with cash and skip town to Bermuda. After finding out things he never wanted to know about his colleagues, Poole is relieved when he loses his mind reading powers. (Episode: “A Penny for Your Thoughts”)

8. Never lie about your age at work. Walter Jameson is a hotshot history professor who talks about the Civil War as if he fought on the frontlines himself. It turns out that the reason he speaks so convincingly about history is because he has lived through a lot of it, after paying an alchemist two thousand years ago for the gift of immortality. This dark secret, however, does not stop Jameson from his plans to marry a young student—until one of the wives he left behind decades before makes sure that he doesn’t live to make any more history. (Episode: “Long Live Walter Jameson”)

9. Your employees are smarter than you are. Jerry Etherson may be a ventriloquist, but it’s his wooden sidekick that is really pulling the strings. In fact, Etherson’s dummy, Willy, has taken over their act by telling his own jokes and making his boss look like a fool. Sick of being the one to sit on a lap, Willy systematically plans an “old switcheroo” that makes his boss into the act’s blockhead. (Episode: “The Dummy”)

10. When you have no talent of your own, steal from those who do. Julius Moomer is an inept writer that needs help making a deadline and turning a phrase. When he finds a book on black magic at the local bookstore, Moomer accidentally conjures up William Shakespeare and immediately puts him to work on his projects. However, The Bard quickly becomes disillusioned by what passes for writing in modern times and leaves Moomer to fend for himself. (Episode: “The Bard”)

Part One: 10 workplace lessons from 'The Twilight Zone'

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