I Can't Remember if We're Cheap or Smart

Dilbert #39

by Scott Adams

Whether avoiding pointless meetings with the clueless pointy-haired boss or angsting over insanely impossible sales goals, meaningless performance objectives, and a mind-numbing cubicle environment, Dilbert and his fellow corporate victims soldier on, providing a great humorous release for the great brotherhood of office drones. For more than 20 years, Dilbert has connected with the great unappreciated, making one and all wonder, "Has Scott Adams bugged our offices?" In I Can't Remember If We're Cheap or Smart, Scott once again demonstrates that through the dot-coms to the mortgage bubble burst to the new normal, Dilbert knows that the stuff of work is really funny business!

Genres: Comics, Humor, Comic Strips, Graphic Novels, Fiction

208 pages, Paperback

First published October 16, 2012

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Scott Adams was a defining voice of the American white-collar experience who transitioned from a prominent cartoonist into a polarizing political commentator. After earning an MBA from UC Berkeley and spending years in management at Pacific Bell, Adams launched the comic strip Dilbert in 1989. The strip’s sharp satire of corporate bureaucracy and the "Dilbert Principle"—the idea that incompetent employees are promoted to management to minimize their damage—resonated globally, eventually appearing in 2,000 newspapers and winning the prestigious Reuben Award. Beyond the funny pages, Adams explored philosophy and persuasion in works like God's Debris and Win Bigly, the latter of which analyzed Donald Trump’s rhetorical strategies during the 2016 election. His career took a dramatic turn during the mid-2010s as he shifted focus to his daily "Real Coffee" livestream, where he combined his background in hypnosis and corporate strategy to comment on the "culture wars." This period of independent commentary culminated in 2023 when he reacted to a poll regarding racial tensions with a series of inflammatory remarks. Labeling Black Americans a "hate group" and advocating for racial segregation, Adams faced immediate and widespread repercussions; hundreds of newspapers dropped his strip, and his publisher canceled his upcoming projects. Undeterred, he moved his work to the subscription-based platform Locals, rebranding his comic as Dilbert Reborn. In his final years, he faced severe health challenges, including stage IV prostate cancer and vocal cord issues, yet he remained a prolific presence on social media. He eventually announced the end of his hand-drawn work due to focal dystonia but continued to direct the strip's vision. Adams’s legacy remains a complex study in the power of branding, the evolution of digital influence, and the volatile intersection of creative genius and political provocation in the modern era.

Reviews

[Mimi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Several cartoons were repeats from previous collections, and worse, some were in this book twice.
It might have been a wink-wink at the title, but I chalk it up to bad editing...

[Miss Clark · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Rodrigo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Uma lição sobre a humanidade.

[Traci · Rating 3 out of 5]

I usually love Dilbert, but I've never sat down to read a whole collection before.

A little Dilbert goes a long way. A long, long way.

Probably best to stick to a daily strip.

[Leah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Strangely, I had been on my library's waitlist for MONTHS for this one (who knew Pittsburgh was such a hotbed for Dilbert fans!) and was thrilled to see it was finally my turn. ...what would have easily been a 4-star read was knocked a star (really, this is more like a 2-star read, but what can I say, I'm biased) because three of the strips were repeated in this book. Also, my e-copy was missing several pages at the end; it jumped from 77% to 81%, 86%, then 96% with something in-between.

[Cathyann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dilbert is one of my favorites! It is said laughter is the best medicine and Dilbert never to dish out a few good doses of it. He is very good at taking everyday dismal and frustrating workplace aspects and make us laugh at them when we would probably rather scream. He helps us to laugh at ourselves once in awhile.

[DOUGLAS J BERRY · Rating 5 out of 5]

Avoid working in a cubicle.

Some color, but mainly black and white. I worked for a company that hired people fresh out of college and gave them a two year contract. You wouldn't believe how many bad decisions they generated.

[Cat Gray · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dilbert comics are always funny

[Rex Libris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun collection of Dilbert strips. A lot Dogbert as CEO action. This was before Dilbert went casual and he has his signature tie on still.

[Tim Shepard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love it

I always have liked Dilbert. Maybe it's the years I spent as a cove dweller or the people I deal with now that I do IT but the comic still tickles me.

[Scott Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Classic Dilbert cartoons work well for any office environment. While this collection is a little older (i.e. Dilbert still wears the flipped up tie), the office humor is no less relevant.

[Jeff J. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading Dilbert reaffirms my decision to retire. What used to be tragic is now funny.

[SKP · Rating 5 out of 5]

I always love Dilbert collections. There was a little repetition in this one, but a lot of ones that were new to me. I still think Scott Adams has some of the offices I’ve worked in bugged….

[Sadie-Jane Huff · Rating 4 out of 5]

good old scott telling it like it is... this one took me ages only because i kept forgetting which title to borrow again.. and bam... got it. read it. laughed my head off.
re-read from start. so need to change that date
especially good when politics at work are at a high or when you're just stressed over assignments. :D

[dejah_thoris · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think I've been reading too much Dilbert because this one only got a couple of chuckles out of me. Though I guess I should be happy that we don't have to deal with such management nonsense on a regular basis.

[Rodrigo Soares · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eu conheci primeiro a série e só depois fui descobrir que era baseado em tirinhas, qual grato foi minha surpresa ao descobrir este livro.

Meu trabalho me fez me identificar muito kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk

maravilhoso acredito que vou virar colecionador! kkkkk

[Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

What can I say? Dilbert says it all.

[Valerie]

I do love me some Dilbert.

[Ben Walker · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wasn't aware that this was a topic-oriented book (vs chronologically-oriented like most of his books). He reused some old comics I'd seen, but it still had some newer ones.

[Tim Kretschmann · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty repetitive compilation..but funny.

[Carrie · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you love to laugh, get this book. It focuses on workplaces, but even if you don't live in a cubicle, it's great. :D

[minnajee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hienoa satiiria toimistoypäristön absurdista johtamisesta ym.

[Bryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun collection, as always.