I *Heart* Dilbert!

Before Michael Scott and company came along lampooning the day-to-day inanities of office politics and personalities in The Office, Scott Adams created the awesome and the "so painfully true but so funny it hurts" comic strip Dilbert. The hapless Dilbert stoically plods along through stultifying staff meetings, improbable project deadlines, incompetent management and antagonistic coworker. I have been there.

My own former pointy-haired boss (well, she didn't actually have pointy hair, but whenever I dealt with her I imagined her hair sprouting up like horns...) finally provided me the answer with the unsolvable riddle, "What happens when you have an immovable object and irresistible force?" The irresistible force quits, sells her condo and moves to L.A. to pursue a career as a screenwriter. Or professional slacker. Either works for me...

Which brings me to my favorite Dilbert character...Wally. Wally, the underachieving office drone who embraces his lack of ambition and mediocrity with the calm and serenity of a Zen master. Wally, who regularly re-sends old e-mails and memos as reruns of the "Best of Wally" while he takes an in-cubicle sabbatical for six months. Wally, who decides to lower his level of performance until he reaches equalibrium with his compensation. Wally, who consistently finds ways to make himself look like a productive, team player while doing nothing but watching YouTube videos.

He's my hero!