Company by Max Barry

Max Barry takes a razor sharp scalpel to the underbelly of Corporate America in Company. Jones is a new employee at Zephyr Holdings, a huge business in the middle of Downtown Seattle. He's excited to jump in on his first day of work and begin his climb up the corporate ladder. Then he meets Roger. Things begin to seem a little off when the first day of work is all about a power struggle over who ate Roger's donut prior to a meeting. Not that there weren't any donuts left for Roger, in fact, nobody else had eaten any donuts, but he knew...KNEW... that someone was out to get him. Before the first day is halfway through, Jones begins to ask himself questions: What exactly is his job here? What does Zephyr Holdings do?

As any management training manual will tell you, there are no stupid questions. So Jones asks his fellow cubicle dwellers about Zephyr's purpose, and nobody quite knows. Oh, they have plenty of long-winded corporate speak for answers, but in terms of actual purpose... nothing. Jones makes it his mission to discover the truth behind Zephyr, and when he does, he funds himself in a situation that he never could have imagined. Jones wants change, and he'll have to rely on his wits to escape with his resume intact.

While many of the incidents in the book are the stuff of fiction, there are moments that clearly borrow from real-life incidents. Max Barry is a master of modern white collar comedy, and Company is his best work yet.