As I’ve gotten older (and wiser, naturally) I’ve noticed my tastes have matured like a fine wine. For example, I used to have a strong distaste for onions, but now, after becoming the resident cook in my family I’ve realized that onions add a certain distinction and flavor to all kinds of dishes. Same goes for spices, which if used efficiently can turn a rather flat, muted taste into something extraordinary and of course this varies depending on your own personal tastes.
Like other things I’ve come to enjoy I’ve also grown quite fond of Dilbert. Dilbert, like Farside is an acquired taste that varies depending on who you are talking to. I’ve known people that when I’ve shared with them a Farside comic that I’ve found funny, they take a glance at it and shrug, wondering why I’m on the floor in stitches. Most of the time they find it necessary to analyze the comic and compare it to real life; “Okay, so the dog writes ‘Cat Fud’ on the washer to lure the feline into his devilish trap? Yeah, I can’t believe that. First of all, a dog cannot write.”
Dilbert, on the other hand, makes sense only if you’ve been subjected to the fantasies of the corporate realm. Which is why when I was younger it didn’t make sense to me and I rated it right up there with Ishtar or Hercules in New York which wasn’t bad if you were an Arnold fan.
Once you’ve worked in a cubicle and shared office space then you begin to understand Dilbert’s agenda. Scott Adams’ creation is one of white collar blues, office politics and quirky coworkers and somehow he manages to make it funny and poignant, but that’s usually the case when you’ve pulled from real-life situations. You can’t help but stiffle laughter when what’s happening to Dilbert has happened to you numerous amounts of times in your working life and that’s why I make it a ritual to check my Dilbert feed every morning and breath a sigh of relief that a comic strip character shares my woes and aspirations.
I’m trying to imagine what it’d be like, as a cook, to not like onions ……
Nope, can’t do it. Onions are a cook’s best friend. Flavor, texture, sweetness, crunch, caramelization. There aren’t many dishes that don’t call for onions, or something from the lily family.
Now head to Outback Steakhouse and have a Bloomin’ Onion. ;)
Matt, is the Bloomin’ Onion anything like Chili’s Awesome Blossom?
In high school, I used to think Dilbert was a waste of space as I mourned the loss of Calvin and Hobbes.
Ten years later, I feel despair and some sort of cathartic justification when Dilbert too closely resembles my life. AND I still miss Calvin and Hobbes.
For me, Dilbert is the very image of everything I loathe about the corporate world. Don’t get me wrong, I think Scott Adams is a genius who did the right thing at the right time, and a master at making ourselves laugh at our own daily miseries.
But when you realize how real all of that is - white-collar backstabbing, cubicle culture, sickening sycophantery and all other “gems” of the corporate world, it makes the fact of laughing at yourself through Dilbert all the more… how could I say it, dimensional?