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A lot has changed since the 1960s, but office politics never goes out of style. In Mad Men, one of this year's most talked about shows, characters often play dirty to get what they want. As we head into a new working year, we wonder: Could you pull off these moves, or are they best left to fictional characters who take three-martini lunches? We asked the experts, and rated each scenario on real-life feasibility.

*****

Feasibility scale

One martini glass: Freshen up that résumé.

Two martini glasses: Good luck - you'll need it.

Three martini glasses: You might actually pull this off.

Four martini glasses: Proceed with caution.

Five martini glasses: Swell

*****

THE SELLOUT

Scenario
Under pressure from his boss, junior account executive Pete Campbell exploits his father's death in a plane crash to win over a big new client.

Feasibility
Three martini glasses: Much of what happens at the show's fictional ad agency, Sterling Cooper, seems like relics from another world - the constant smoking and drinking, the pervasive sexual harassment, the gorgeous suits and dresses. But choosing between your paycheque and your soul? That's timeless.

"I'm sure this kind of stuff goes on, in the sixties, today and all the times in between," says Michael Stern, head of Michael Stern Associates, a Toronto-based recruitment and management consulting firm.

This scenario is all about what our experts called the mirror test: Can you satisfy your boss's wishes and still look at yourself in the mirror the next morning? Making a deal over your father's dead body would fall beyond the pale for most people (if not for poor, conflicted, weasely Pete). But most ethical dilemmas are subtler. Keep in mind that there are worse things than losing your job.

"Once you violate your integrity and you sell yourself out, that's something that people have a lot harder time forgiving themselves for than failing in a job," says Bruce Snow, a partner in the Halifax human-resources firm Robertson Surrette.

THE POWER PLAY

Scenario
After hard-drinking copywriter Freddy Rumsen is forced out of the agency, Peggy Olson, the spunky secretary-turned-copywriter, spies her chance and asks her boss for Freddy's office.

Feasibility
Five martini glasses: The senior partner at Sterling Cooper calls Peggy's ambition "cute." Our experts say she's right on: If you want something in the corporate world, you have to ask for it and make a strong case.

"It's a mistake for someone to sit quietly with their head down, doing good work, and assume they're going to get recognized," Mr. Stern says. While the casual, obvious sexism portrayed in the Mad Men office may be a thing of the past, a substantial wage gap still exists - women make on average 85 cents for every dollar earned by men - so modern women are struggling with some of the same issues Peggy faces.

"She had to demand her rightful place, it wasn't going to be given to her," says John Challenger, chief executive officer of Chicago-based human-resources firm Challenger Gray & Christmas. If Peggy had somehow schemed against Freddy, that would be another story, Mr. Challenger says, but since she was always sympathetic and helpful to him, she can now enjoy his office guilt-free.

THE END RUN

Scenario
New secretary Jane Siegel goes over the head of head secretary Joan Holloway to get her job back after Joan fires her.

Feasibility
Three martini glasses: The real question here is not, "Can you get your job back?" but "Do you really want to work for the person who fired you?" Of course, in the world of Mad Men, things are more complicated: Roger Sterling, the boss, who has been having an affair with Joan, ends up leaving his wife for Jane. With any luck, your office doesn't have the same degree of sexual politics at play, but still you will be tempted at times to go over your boss's head. Tread cautiously, our experts advise.

"The likelihood that it is going to work out in the long run is very slim," Mr. Snow says. Even if you get your job back, you've got to work for the person who wanted to fire you and now resents you for challenging her authority.

Mr. Stern says it can be worth a try, but make sure you think it through first.

"That falls into the nothing-to-lose category. She was out anyway, so why not go for it?" he says. "You have to live with the consequence of having gone around Joan" - and Joan is a woman not lightly crossed.

THE WALKOUT

Scenario
Main character Don Draper announces that he's quitting after he learns that the agency has been taken over and his rival, Herman (Duck) Phillips, is the new president.

Feasibility
Two martini glasses: Maybe if you're Don Draper - master of the boardroom and the bedroom, advertising genius - you can get away with this. For the rest of us, it's tough to pull off unless you've got another job lined up or are independently wealthy.

"That is probably something best kept for fantasy, not something you actually want to do," Mr. Snow says.

"I don't think there's anything wrong in standing your ground, but it's not the kind of thing you do in a bluff," Mr. Stern says.

Mr. Challenger is more understanding of Don's position, noting that culture clashes surface any time a company is bought out. "People make these kinds of stands when they come to realize the new company is not going to fit them," he says.

Whatever you do, don't dramatically announce your resignation, stomp out and then linger pathetically by the doorway hoping that someone's going to beg you to come back. They probably won't. Unless you're Don Draper.