Dilbert cartoon first published on Sunday 16th February 1997

Dilbert//2864, first published 29 years ago on Sunday 16th February 1997

Tags

leadership seminar manager motivates employees 14 hour days filthy sadist pointy haired imbecile leader unpopular decions training engineers

Official transcript

Alice, Dilbert and Wally grumble as they enter a leadership seminar. The instructor asks, "What would you call a manager who motivates employees to work fourteen hours a day?"

Alice answers, "A filthy sadist."

Dilbert answers, "Pointy-haired imbecile."

The instructor says, "Umm . . . No . . . That's not what I'm looking for."

Wally says, "I think he means what do we call him to his face."

Alice, Dilbert and Wally answer in unison, "Leader."

The instructor says, "Right! And what do you call someone who can make unpopular decisions again and again?"

Someone replies, "A filthy sadist?"

Another participant says, "Wait, it might be another trick question."

The instructor thinks, "I hate training engineers."

originally published on dilbert.com

Open source transcript

GRUMBLE LEADERSHIP SEMINAR GRUMBLE, WHAT WOULD YOU CALL A MANAGER WHO MOTIVATES EMPLOYEES TO WORK FOURTEEN HOURS A DAY?

FILTHY SADIST.

POINTY-HAIRED IMBECILE.

UMM... NO...

THAT'S NOT WHAT I'M LOOKING FOR.

I THINK HE MEANS WHAT DO WE CALL HIM TO HIS FACE.

LEADER RIGHT! AND WHAT DO YOU CALL SOMEONE WHO CAN MAKE UNPOPULAR DECISIONS AGAIN AND AGAIN?

I HATE TRAINING ENGINEERS A FILTHY SADIST?

WAIT, IT MIGHT BE ANOTHER TRICK QUESTION.

collated from github.com/jvarn/dilbert-archive

AI Analysis

The comic strip is titled "A Filthy Sadist" and features Dilbert, a pointy-haired boss, and a group of employees.

Summary:

• The comic strip begins with a manager asking an employee to call him "leader" instead of "grumble" during a leadership seminar.
• The employee is confused and asks what "leader" means.
• The manager responds that it means "what we call him to his face."
• The employee is skeptical and asks if it's a trick question.
• The manager becomes angry and tells the employee to call him "leader" anyway.
• The employee reluctantly agrees and calls the manager "leader."
• The manager becomes even angrier and tells the employee to leave the seminar.
• The comic strip ends with the employee walking out of the seminar, looking frustrated and confused.

Themes:

• The comic strip pokes fun at the idea of corporate jargon and the use of buzzwords to sound more impressive.
• It also highlights the absurdity of using overly formal language in everyday situations.
• The comic strip suggests that some managers may be more interested in appearing important than actually being effective leaders.

generated by llama-3.2-11b-vision-instruct

Accompanying textual content, such as title, tags and transcripts, is shown here if we have it. Not every comic has all of these, and they seem to be a bit hit and miss even on the official website.