Dilberts of the World

Always enjoyed a spot of Dilbert with my morning coffee. That lil biweekly comic strip by Scott Adams offers me a peek into the compartmentalized corporate world of engineering drones, nasty assistants and management stiffs. A Kafkaesque world that would otherwise be completely alien to me.

Although I do have plenty of engineer buddies ( including Charming Calvin ) who actually punch in their 9-to-5 over in that bureaucratic cubicle-hell! Though they assure me repeatedly that the comic strip doesn't lie all that far from reality, they don't seem all that eager to share their humiliating Dilbert experiences. Unlike doctors who are willing to spill anytime over java. Starting to wonder whether there's a clause in their contracts forbidding them from talking about work.


Thinking about work...
But the more I delve into the Dilbert universe ( and the more I see of my complacent friends! ), the more I'm inclined to agree. Dilberts do exist. By and large, most of my friends seem happily content to remain unquestioning cubicle rats herded around by inane, pointy-eared bosses!

Like Alice, I'd have cheerfully given them the Fist of Death instead.


Bosses?
Look, I'm not particularly ambitious myself. Forget about job satisfaction. Hell, I'd probably prefer mending shirts and baking tarts at home to slaving it endlessly at the hospital.

But since the perky 1950s housewife option seems closed to me at the moment, I'll continue giving my very best at work. And every once in a while, I'll still have these crazy dreams. I want to be the head of the department. I want to be the prominent expert in my field. I want to make changes in the departmental policy.

I want to rule the world.

Yes just like the conniving Dogbert, I do have the occasional megalomaniacal delusion.

Which my friends apparently don't share. Odd. Don't they feel an irresistible urge to overthrow their bosses in a devastating coup? Don't they want to rise to the absolute pinnacle of their respective careers?

Or do the ubiquitous cubicles actually sap ambition?

I believe my friends might be Dilberts.