Dilbert retells story of Iowan fired over comic | DesMoinesRegister.com | The Des Moines Register — It’s more than a little common for workers to thumbtack cartoons in and around their private workplace. I guess this hit too close to home. People should never go to this casino ever.
“Dilbert,” the newspaper comic that routinely ridicules self-important office managers, is taking aim this week at an Iowa company that fired an employee for posting a “Dilbert” strip in the office.
In a bit of self-referential cartooning, “Dilbert” creator Scott Adams has penned a series of strips that indirectly describe the plight of Dave Steward, a former security supervisor for Catfish Bend Casino in Burlington. Steward, 50, a resident of Fort Madison, was fired by the casino last fall after seven years of employment. He had posted on an office bulletin board a “Dilbert” strip in which the protagonist compares his bosses to a bunch of “drunken lemurs.”
Found by Aric Mackey
Cartoons courtesy of Scott Adams at Dilbert.com
Ya know, the more I work in an office, the more Dilbert makes sense.
🙂
Maybe they should change the name to
Catfish Bend Over Casino
In one of the places in which I worked many years ago, I encountered many Dilbert-like folks. I started putting up Dilbert cartoons that were particularly relevant. Soon it got to be a large part of one of my walls. One day the CEO came in and read the wall of Dilbert (for which many of the cartoons were directed at him). He laughed and then hesitated for a second. “Do any of these relate to me?” “Why no. They relate to stories told by employees and our customers of course.”
That he bought it explains why he was on the wall. (He was famous for the “I read this in a trade magazine on my last flight” maneuver.)
The first job I got after moving to the US, later hired an inexperienced manager over me. This person’s sole qualification was his years of military service – nine years in a submarine as a Petty Officer. Since I had over 25 years experience at that time plus a wealth of education he quickly decided I was too much of a threat to him.
I made up a Complaint Form as a joke. The page consisted lots of rules specifying the detail the compliant must take and that it must be neat and legible. The joke was that the complaint and all references had to be written in a box the size of a postage stamp. It also went on at length how the company appreciated the employees input. The origin of this was after I had had a conversation with the Corporate Vice President and he received the first copy. He loved it and apparently used it as a training tool on communication. As it was intended.
A couple of Shift Managers were discussing it when my new Manager saw it. He wanted to fire me on the spot. This was so anti-company and disrespectful!!! He was unaware of the Corporate V-P’s involvement. It took a few phone calls to stop the asshole but I realized that the sooner I got out the better life would be.
For a brief period at Ford, Dearborn, we had a bulletin board in the hall where everybody pinned up their favorite Dilbert strip. Management eventually made us stop calling it, “Bad for company moral.” But of course the Einstein manager that wanted it down was too dumb to realize the majority of the strips were referencing her.
Things like this made it really clear why U.S. business has gone down the tubes.
Scott Adams has the best job on earth. If anyone has not read “The Dilbert Principle” or “Dogbert’s Top Secret Management Handbook”, drop what you’re doing and make it a priority.
People send him real management stupidity tales, he changes the names and make them into comic strips. I read in an interview with him that he has a 5 year backlog of material. The strip hits home because most of it really happened.
Where I work most all of the Dilbert-isms come from customers. Unlike large corporations, small businesses have to do stuff right most all the time. Or they’re not in business anymore.
#5 – Wow, you can fire people in the US?
Only if they are hardworking and dependent on the job for income.
Dilbertisms happen all over the world. Here I was, thinking I was the only one having worked at companies where Dilbert has been banned! And once, a Director told me he didn’t enjoy my Dilbert cartoons on the wall because he didn’t understand them!!!!
Let’s face it, Managers and Directors aren’t bright people. They’re just good at one narrow field of expertise (maybe) and at stabbing each others backs. Not much intelligence needed for that.
If you ask people who work in offices, everybody will have a Dilbert-worthy story to tell you.
In a company where I used to work, the sales force wasn’t reaching the sales objectives. Solution? Change the schedule for the cafeteria… Honest to God! BTW, the sales force doesn’t even use the cafeteria… AAAGGGHHHH!!!!
Believe it or not, there are some really good companies out there. And after you work at one a bad one is soooo apparent! I think Dilbert is a great management tool to facilitate communication in the organization. I used to call it MBWA… management by walking around, read the cartoons, it might hold a real gem of information that you wouldn’t necessarily see if you sit on your ass in the office and send e-mails all day
Dilberr is usually right.
I would like to see a link to the original Dilbert cartoon that got this guy fired. I think the comic posted on the top of this blog is a response by Adams.
O never mind…I just found it. It’s on the Des Moines registed that is linked to by the blog. It’s one where Dilbert is talking to a garbage collector.
Great, I posted it outside my cubicle early this morning. Bad news is they haven’t fired me yet! Guess I’ll have to come back next week. Crap!
During WWII, the cartoonist Bill Mauldin created a strip called “Dogfaces” starring two tired GI’s named “Willie & Joe”. His cartoon made fun of the military, the commanders, and all the rules. His cartoon was run in the military’s newspaper Star & Strips.
Gen. George Patton once tried to get Mauldin arrested and court marshaled because he didn’t like how his cartoons were disrespectful of officers. Eisenhower stepped in and overruled Patton, recognizing that this little cartoon was the only voice the low ranking enlisted soldiers had to vent their frustrations.
If you ever get a chance to read the Mauldin’s WWII “Dogfaces” cartoons, then do so. Dilbert is a brilliant continuation of Mauldin’s ability to voice the frustrations of the working/fighting man.
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