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Dilbert #17
Excuse Me While I Wag
Cubicle-dwelling business people the world over have been knowingly nodding, faithfully push-pinning their favorite strips to their cube walls, and--most of all--belly laughing out loud ever since Dilbert first arrived on the scene. In this collection, Excuse Me While I Wag, Dilbert and his look-alike dog, Dogbert, once again provide comic relief to anyone who has ever had to inhabit a cubicle, endure an "initiative of the week," or simply work in an office that has, on occasion, caused them to pull out large clumps of their hair. Scott Adams' dead-on humor in Excuse Me While I Wag is sure to satisfy the hordes of fans worldwide who avidly follow the misadventures of Dilbert, Dogbert, Catbert, Ratbert, the pointy-haired boss, and the rest of the cast of characters in Dilbert's world--a world that's eerily like the one we work in daily.
128 pages, Paperback
First published April 3, 2001
12 people are currently reading
97 people want to read
About the author
Scott Adams
242 books1,309 followersLibrarian 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.
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.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
August 7, 2025
LOL!
This book is a fun one. I enjoyed reading it, but I don’t enjoy the author. He needs to keep his thoughts to himself and just stick to comedy. Since I have already purchased the book and I enjoy reading Dilbert, I decided to read this one.
The humor is good and laughable. It made me laugh out loud and chuckle and snigger with a smile. I think I will add this book to my list of comics that I have read. I’m sure I can judge the book separately from the author. And that is what I do. See you soon.
This book is a fun one. I enjoyed reading it, but I don’t enjoy the author. He needs to keep his thoughts to himself and just stick to comedy. Since I have already purchased the book and I enjoy reading Dilbert, I decided to read this one.
The humor is good and laughable. It made me laugh out loud and chuckle and snigger with a smile. I think I will add this book to my list of comics that I have read. I’m sure I can judge the book separately from the author. And that is what I do. See you soon.
June 19, 2022
I enjoy these comics to end my day.
May 21, 2015
Dilbert: This is the minimum budget I need for my project.
Boss: What could you do with half this amount?
Dilbert: Fail.
Boss: When can you start?
Dilbert: I think I just did.
hahaha!
At its best, Dilbert is hilariously funny. And there are plenty of cartoons in this collection that had me laughing out loud.
At its worst, Dilbert is still a treasury of data that should be studied by anyone who supervises other employees in the workplace.
Boss: What could you do with half this amount?
Dilbert: Fail.
Boss: When can you start?
Dilbert: I think I just did.
hahaha!
At its best, Dilbert is hilariously funny. And there are plenty of cartoons in this collection that had me laughing out loud.
At its worst, Dilbert is still a treasury of data that should be studied by anyone who supervises other employees in the workplace.
January 17, 2015
Dilbert always makes me laugh. I've read this (and the other nine I bought recently) before but they are good quick reads to enjoy on the shorter bus journeys. A nice break from the Berlin Wall history I am working my way through.
Everyone knows some variation of the characters in Dilbert making it perfectly relatable even without a career in engineering.
Everyone knows some variation of the characters in Dilbert making it perfectly relatable even without a career in engineering.
August 7, 2014
Wally: "You killed Anne L. Retentive with a typo?!"
Dilbert: "No, she's just in a comma."
*grin*
Dilbert: "No, she's just in a comma."
*grin*
November 29, 2008
Another great Dilbert book from the series! If you love business humor, Scott Adams hits the spot.
November 1, 2022
Another fun and funny installment of Dilbert books. I thought by the title that this might be more Dogbert, but it isn’t exclusively about Dogbert. This one had fewer repeats from the several other Dilbert books that I’ve read, so I enjoyed it a lot.
February 15, 2021
Good old dilbert
February 20, 2022
It wasn't really my kind of comics. If you like those kinds of comics then you'd definitely enjoy it.
January 24, 2023
Inspired!
Read
September 6, 2023""
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 25, 2025
Mostly a dig at the Pointy Haired Boss.
Plenty of Catbert and of course Dogbert.
Got plenty of later books, hope they keep getting even better.
Plenty of Catbert and of course Dogbert.
Got plenty of later books, hope they keep getting even better.
December 21, 2023
Whenever the employees start to show more brains than their clearly more experienced boss, the work of Dogbert begins - and if he can get some sadistic amusement out of playing with the minds around him, all the better. Adams brings another round of humour and mayhem with this latest installment in the comic collection. Staying five steps ahead of the curve is just another walk in the park for the genius of Dogbert!
January 23, 2016
We all might have started out like Calvin with a great view of life. But after hitting the workforce we all somewhat become Dilbert. Everyone knows someone like one of the characters in the strips. Highly recommended
January 6, 2009
helena wont understand the complex stuff in this book
July 28, 2011
my husband (an engineer( laughed through the whole book
September 22, 2007
Dilbert = yes, very yes.
May 20, 2013
Very funny
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews