Ideias luminosas

He captures our workplace frustrations with dead-on accuracy. He knows all about the technophobic vice president, the fascist information systems supervisor, and even the big, stubborn, dumb guy. How does he do it? How does he know? It's downright spooky. Scott Adams, get out of our heads!

The notion that Dilbert creator Scott Adams has secretly bugged every office, cubicle, and conference room in America-a belief widely held by Dilbert fans-has been debunked by pointy-haired experts. This discovery leads to an even more sinister yet inescapable conclusion: that the lunacy you thought was unique to your workplace is spreading with a viral malignancy across the nation's business landscape.

Yes, the Corporate America brand of insanity has garnered a majority market share among white-collar managers and so-called leaders at companies large and small. Product features (let's not call them "benefits") of this insanity include inflated executive salaries, irrelevant performance objectives, insipid management fads, inscrutable e-mail, interminable meetings, and oppressive work environments.

Dilbert is the inadvertent poster child for the Corporate America brand. In The Fluorescent Light Glistens Off Your Head, he and his power-hungry dog, Dogbert, provide much-needed comic relief to working stiffs toiling in cubicles everywhere.