Eight days after being hired as a computer programmer at a financial company, Ben Woods discovered that his cubicle was being moved. To where, he wasn't certain, but his work attire, biracial romance and, ultimately, quizzical attitude toward corporate America were also quickly escaping.

Polos to Ties examines workplace relocation within a single, bi-polar Fortune 500 company. Ben returned to his hometown of Louisville, Ky., bought a house, found a job and courted an Indian princess/database administrator co-worker. Two weeks later, he contemplated moving with the parent company to Cincinnati and wondered exactly how his new lady friend would be able to stay in the country. More importantly, he mulled the idea of exchanging a laid-back, business casual dress environment for a cafeteria, a fitness center and a strangling - by a necktie and organizational bureaucracy.

As the men and women in suits arrived to document the documents, proactivate the buzzwords and cage the circus animals (aka tech support), there remained one question: Is giving up your independence to become a company drone worth it?

I pledge allegiance
to the brand
of the corporation that hired me,
and to the bottom line
for which it stands,
one company,
under innumerable upper and middle management,
conflicted,
with paychecks and pink slips for all.

Latest News

New website for the new book

June 16, 2008 - I finally had time to update the website design for my new narrative nonfiction humor novel, "Polos to Ties." I just wanted to make it a little more user-fr ...



BookExpo update

May 30, 2008 - So far, so good at the BookExpo. Los Angeles is a pretty cool place, and I've made a fair number of contacts on my first day. I still have a number of people to speak with, though, as I try to pitch " ...



Introducing Chapter One of "Polos to Ties"

May 06, 2008 - As I prepare to attend the L.A. Book Expo at the end of May, I decided to go ahead and post the first chapter of "Polos to Ties." I'm still negotiating with agents (and publishers, in the near future) ...

About the author

Since 2005, Ben Woods has held six full-time computer programming positions, has collected a stack of employee manuals and health insurance cards and has worked with a litany of CEOs, PMPs, BBMs and A-HOLEs. His last book, The Developers, is about the U.S. government taking over the Internet and online crazy people, both of which being equally frightening. Ben (shown here while being suffocated with a necktie in the Amazon rainforest) lives in Baltimore.

A Purdue University graduate with a Communication degree, journalism concentration, and English minor, Woods currently is a developer for Integrated Marketing Solutions in Baltimore. With experience both as a writer and a computer programmer, Woods can relate highly technological ideas to the masses with ease and in a satirical way.