All Up in Your Bizness: Managing Your Business Crap

All Up in Your Bizness: Managing Your Business Crap by Julianna Newland was a hilarious, lighthearted collection of thoughts and feelings about navigating the corporate business world. Drawing from her thirty+ years of professional experience, including a Fortune 500 company, trade association, nonprofit, and state government, she brings the reader many witty and relatable entries about how the modern-day workplace can be.

The book is formatted into very short sections, usually only two to three paragraphs comically describing a common workplace issue. For example, one of the topics Newland discussed was the very real struggle of finding a parking space. As she calls it, this daily “mad rush” from lack of assigned employee parking spaces, inevitably leads to disagreements about whose car arrived first and who gets to take what spot. While the company’s “minions” fight for a spot close to the door, CEOs, employees of the month, and “CEO snitches” are gifted prime parking real estate.

Another example of a topic Newland discussed was the open office concept. Designed to increase productivity, yet doing everything but that, Newland humorously brings up all of the distractions that occur within this type of environment—loud cell phone talking, loud coworker conversations, and lots of shouting across the workspace instead of standing up to walk towards them. She also brings up the grim reality of arriving late to this kind of environment; you get stuck in the most undesirable office desk, often the most distracting and unseeingly seat of them all. While the early risers enjoy the beautiful window views, you are stuck interrupted by the constant flutter and smells of people walking by.

Throughout these short narratives, Newland presents to the reader her very entertaining take on the downsides of working in a business setting. Full of crude humor and language, her personality really comes through in this book, something that brings it a touch of charm and character. I could not help a smile and laugh at her opinionated takes on these situations.

Finally, I loved how Newland added cocktail recipes throughout this novel. With a humorous backstory to each one of them, she gives the reader specific craft “remedies” for dealing with the situations described in each section. A creative and unique spin, I also loved how these recipes were created by two bartenders at her local restaurant, adding to the personal charm of this novel.

Overall, I enjoyed reading Newland’s comedic take on the workplace. I would recommend this book to readers who like humor, especially those who may be uninspired at their desk jobs, as this book caters to these individuals.