dilbert - welcome to corporate culture

Anybody who had been in a so called "corporate culture" knows how stupid some of it is. Especially, if you did something other than marketing or accounting.

Or, management.

That's why people all over the world like Dilbert. The typical character in the corporate office. Written by the cartoonist, certified hypnotist, Scott Adams, the comic strip is published by more than 1600 news papers, and is read by millions.

As it was said, while Dilbert was based on the experience Scott Adams had, working in Crocker Bank and Pacific Bell. As Adams himself says in Seven Years of Highly Defective People, "I worked with a lot of technical people and noticed that many of them had potato-shaped bodies and glasses. When I morphed them together in my brain they became Dilbert".

May be my liking Dilbert might have been supported by the fact that Dilbert is a single male engineer, same as me.

Despite the 'merge', Dilbert had evolved with time considerably. For instance, his original cylinder shaped head has changed to a bucket shaped one with time.

I'll write a bit more about the characters, and try to give a bit of a history. As a general rule, all the characters have developed a more appealing look over time. And most have become more younger looking too, including, Boss, Wally and Garbageman. (This is not a special characteristic of Dilbert, even Garfield and Jon have evolved in to more pleasant figures over time).

It all began in late 1989 ......

dilbert

Dilbert is the hero in the strip. He's an Engineer, but it's not clear what his discipline is. Most of the time he works with a computer, even write software, but some times he makes new gadgets and even work on chemicals. So, it seems that Adams wanted to keep him generic, without limiting him for a particular field of engineering. And he's single, and lives with Dogbert, his Dog.

In the very old days in late 80's, Dilbert had a more cylindrical shaped head, and dumber look. And his hair did not look the same way it does today. And his glasses were relatively small. But his tie never changes to go up at the end. This is an old strip that explains the mystery:

dogbert

Dogbert, Dilbert's dog, probably is the most smart character, if it's not the Garbageman. And He's the has a dominating nature. He does not respect Dilbert, and doesn't try to conceal his disrespect towards humankind. Whenever Adams wants to human stupidity, it comes out from Dogberts mouth, mostly as a dialog with Dilbert. Dogbert's intention is to conquer the world one day.

But in cases where Dilbert's in *real* trouble, we can see Dogbert come for the rescue. These cases are however, very rare.

As we see in the picture with Dilbert, Dogbert earlier had shorter legs. They have considerably grown in this picture.

boss

Having a really small intellectual capacity and a will to make employees suffer, the "pointy haired imbecile" - as workers call him - is the worst case boss any employee can think of.

And the boss would sure believe this intern. He once deleted files in his laptop, to make it lighter!

Despite his growing stupidity, boss became younger looking with the time. To the left is an old picture of boss, in 89. To the right is a recent one.

wally

The most cynic, pessimistic and disloyal employee in the office is Wally. To top it up, he's lazy!. All he does is drinking coffee and walking around. He even does not try to hide the fact that he does not do any productive work.

He's the guy with glasses. If boss in the comic is the nightmare boss of any employee, Wally would be the nightmare employee of any boss. He's a good friend of Dilbert, but does not hesitate to cheat or betray even Dilbert. Of course, none of the workers are loyal to each other.

As we can see here, the earlier Wally was a smaller, older looking and an even pathetic character.

catbert

Catbert was introduced in 1994 as a cat who harassed Ratbert, but later became the Evil HR Director of the office. He is the most sadistic and wicked character in the cartoon, and he makes pleasure of making employees suffer by his unfair rules.

ratbert

The most pathetic character in the cartoon, Ratbert originated as a lab rat who escape and seek asylum in Dilberts house. Ratbert suffered a lot in the lab, mostly because the scientist couldn't afford money to keep several rats. For the same reason, Ratbert did not die. You can see him in a strip above, being hypnotized by dogbert.

Ratbert was introduced to the cartoon in 1990. He demanded that he be accepted to the Dilbert family, and was rejected many a times. But he won his demand on Christmas day of 93. Ratbert continues to be the exact opposite of dogbert in every way.

alice

Alice is the most hardworking engineer in the office. Also she's the most technically proficient.In addition to her intelligence, she had a good talent in martial arts. She works hard expecting the appreciation and good appraisal, but rarely gets it. (Scott Adams says that he's felt it's the female employees who are worried much about the performance reviews and stuff).

Alice's hair looked normal in the earlier days, but as you see in the middle age strip, it has become to be triangular. It's even more triangular in the strips to-day.

asok

The indian intern was introduced to the strip in 1996. If Alice is the most hard working and talented, Asok (pronounced as Ashook) is the most motivated and energetic. Unfortunately, he's not that brilliant, and ends up in mockery or traps, due to his innocence. Despite that, even Asok can fool the boss, as you see him in a previous strip, persuading boss to ask people to use small fonts to save disk space.

(Adams says that people have tested this, and reported that it actually saves some disk space to a small extent)

bob the dinosaur

Bob was somewhat an early character, appearing first in July, 89. Dilbert does a simulation in his computer, which shows that dinosaurs can't be extinct; and predicts that they should be hiding somewhere. Later, Bob and Dawn appear; Bob is funny and clueless, but Dawn is of not-so-funny type. Later, they had an egg, which, to the surprise of bob, became little Rex. We do not see Dawn and Rex much in later strips.

Bob is known for his ability deliver wedgies. In fact, it's the most important thing - if not the only useful thing - he does.

garbageman

Garbageman is the world's most smartest human. He says that he chose the job because the 'glamour' attracted him to work as a garbageman. We can see him fixing the small errors of the designs dilbert does.

In the earlier days, garbageman had a more rugged and dirty suit, and his glasses could be more prominently seen. He evolved in to a cleaner and tidy character, and his eyes became hidden under his cap.

Garbageman is the only person Dogbert respects, and seeks help from. He once helped dogbert to clone Dilbert from his garbage, when he was killed by the mother natures wild deer.

He was in the comic since 89.

mom

Dilberts mom is a clever woman, and knows a lot of techy stuff. It's said that Dilbert inherited his technical knowledge from her.

She did not change her appearance a lot; but her hair became smaller.

tina the tech writer

She's the technical writer of Dilbert's office. She is one unsatisfied employee, and constantly complains that other people do not respect her job. She appeared first in 1995 in a Dilbert strip.

carol the secretary

An unsatisfied secretary, Carol does not fear her boss. And she ignores everyone's commands and requests, and always makes sure the things get done late. The 'evil secretary' is there since 91, but she did not have the name Carol consistently.

liz

Liz is the girl Dilbert dates, and she first appears in 94, as a really child looking girl. (Adams has said that it's because he cannot draw beautiful females.) But in the same year, he breaks up with her.

elbonians

These are a set of people who live in a muddy underdeveloped country. The people live in mud to their waist level.

The whole country is muddy. And the secretary of state is a pig. They have business relationships with Dilberts company, and once even took it over.

It's depicted as an East European country, first time in 1990. But at that time, people there looked more like normal europeans (except for the fact that they lived in mud). Later, they got their current look, i.e. long robes and tall hats. They all look the same.