alt Hacker News> This was the world of Dilbert’s rise. You’d put a Dilbert comic on your cubicle wall, and feel like you’d gotten away with something
My former manager used to have Dilbert comic strips on his wall. It always puzzled me - was it self deprecating humor? At a certain point though it became clear that in his mind the PHB was one layer ABOVE him in the management chain and not anyone at his level. I suspect it may be a recursive pattern.
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My former manager organized an offsite where we all watched Office Space together.
Did she just not get it? Or did she get it, and it was some weird flex making us watch it with her? I still don’t know.
People can play a role and clearly see the role they play as well.
Plenty of managers see the absurdity in a lot of what they have to do, but it's mandated by the people above them.
Did you ever encounter a well managed (or well functioning) team(s)? If so, why do you think they performed so well?
It speaks to a general lack of self awareness people have about class/power structures.
I think everybody, with few exceptions, is in the system involuntarily. And also you can't say that that you don't want to be in the system. You have to fake it very hard if you want to "win". You have to demonstrate "passion" and such.
My boss refused to allow people to call him boss, for example. He really hated the system.
From a recent NYTimes article about his passing:
> “Dilbert” was a war cry against the management class — the system of deluded jerks you work for who think they know better. Workers posted it on their cubicles like resistance fighters chalking V’s on walls in occupied Paris. But their bosses posted “Dilbert” in their offices too, since they also had a boss who was an idiot.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/16/opinion/dilbert-scott-ada...