Bill Lumbergh

### Occupation

Division Vice President, Initech (formerly)Division Vice President, Initrode (currently)

## Appearances

### Portrayed by

Gary Cole

**Bill (William) Lumbergh** is the antagonist of the film *Office Space* who appeared initially in the *Milton* animated short*s*. He is portrayed by Gary Cole.

### Biography

Lumbergh is a division vice president of the software company Initech. He is a notorious micromanager who is focused on busy work and paperwork, notably TPS reports. He is widely disliked by the main cast of the movie, primarily Peter who extensively avoids and complains about him. Lumbergh is best known for his unenthusiastic demeanor and repetitive speech patterns, including phrases such as "What's happening?", and when asking an employee to do an unpleasant task, starts the sentence with, "I'm gonna need you to", or "If you could go ahead and", as well as ending these requests with "that'd be great/terrific" and "mmmkay?". He has non-confrontational and passive aggressive demeanor and a tendency to save face whenever possible, contributing to his lack of likable traits. Lumbergh seems to primarily pester Peter and Milton, the latter to a more extreme extent as the two tend to tussle over Milton's desk placement, remuneration, and ownership of the red stapler.

Lumbergh drives a blue Porsche 911 SC with a vanity license plate "MY PRSHE". He wears formal, solid-color day dress shirts with Winchester collars and suspenders with a belt — a fashion *faux pas* — as well as an MIT college class ring. According to his Initech employee's personnel file, Lumbergh graduated from MIT with a BS in physics. He may be married as indicated by the band he wears on his ring finger. He is 40-41 years old during the runtime of the movie.

### Trivia

* In a deleted scene, Lumbergh is revealed to have died in the fire. This is presumably not canon in the final cut of the film, however his car can still be seen parked outside despite him not being present in the crowd. Although unlikely to be canon, the character's appearance in subsequent media (namely ads for the company Hipchat) suggest he is still alive.
* A scene was cut from the film which showed Lumbergh reacting angrily to his Porsche getting towed. Gary Cole said he was glad the scene was taken out because he felt the character needed to remain at the same emotional state at all times.
* When Lumbergh is having the meeting with the Bobs to go over the layoffs, they pull out Lumbergh's personnel file. In the photo of him stapled to the file he is wearing the exact same shirt, tie and suspenders that he is wearing while sitting at the table with them.
* Prior to his role in "Office Space", Gary Cole played the role of Captain Matthew Gideon in the 1999 Sci-fi TV show *Crusade (1999)*. Part of Gary Cole's costume was a class ring for "Earthforce Academy". He kept the ring and wore it as Lumbergh in *Office Space*.
* Lumbergh is well known as an early internet meme - *"That'd be great"*

### Gallery

Whaaaat's happening?Lumbergh with the BobsAbout those TPS reports...Reading signs is for nerds.Lumbergh's officeA tasteful plateI'll be taking that.Lumbergh in Office Space: Idle ProfitsAn older Lumbergh in the 2022 Walmart adLumbergh in the Hipchat adsLumbergh in the short MiltonMerchandise design