The Joy of Work: Dilbert's Guide to Finding Happiness at the Expense of Your Co-Workers

The Joy of Work: Dilbert's Guide to Finding Happiness at the Expense of Your Co-Workers

(41 customer reviews)

"I cried because I did not have an office with a door, until I met a man who had no cubicle."
Dilbert
A message from Scott Adams:
I think the next wave of office design will focus on eliminating the only remaining obstacle to office productivity: your happiness. Happiness isn't a physical thing, like walls and doors. But it's closely related. Managers know that if they can eliminate all traces of happiness, the employees won't be so picky about their physical surroundings. Once you're hopelessly unhappy, you won't bother to complain if your boss rolls you up in a tight ball and crams you into a cardboard box.
As soon as I noticed this disturbing threat to workplace happiness, I did some investigative work and discovered it wasn't confined to the issue of office design. Companies were making a direct frontal assault on employee happiness in every possible way! I knew there was only one thing that could stop the horror.
It was time for another Dilbert book.
It might sound corny, but I felt an obligation to society. People told me it was time for me to "give something back to the community." This scared me, until I realized that no one knows I furnished my house with street signs and park benches. So I interpreted the "give something back to the community" message as a plea for me to write this book and then charge the community to read it.
In the first part of this book I will tell you how to find happiness at the expense of your co-workers, managers, customers, andbest of allthose lazy stockholders. The second part of the book teaches you my top-secret methods for mining humor out of ordinary situations, thus making it easier to mock the people around you. The third part of the book is made entirely of invisible pages. If the book seems heavier than it looks, that's why.
Office Prank #44: Sounds That Drive Co-workers Crazy
You can produce sounds in the office that will drive your co-workers insane. That can be very entertaining. Every co-worker is different, so you might have to experiment to find the sounds that are most annoying to your cubicle neighbor. It's worth the effort.

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Product Details:

Author:	Scott Adams
Hardcover:	272 pages
Publisher:	HarperBusiness
Publication Date:	October 01, 1998
Language:	English
ISBN:	0887308716
Package Length:	8.1 inches
Package Width:	6.1 inches
Package Height:	0.8 inches
Package Weight:	0.95 pounds
Average Customer Rating:	based on 41 reviews

Customer Reviews:

Average Customer Review: 4.0

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Well where did that come from? Jun 30, 2010
I will not post on the same material that the other reviewers have (it is a 10 year old book), however I have two major issues with the book. I thought that the 'crimes' against the co-workers was funny (most of which cause no harm and might give your coworkers something to think about.) I also thought that some of the more business stuff was interesting. I did get lost and did not follow the connection between the book and how to be funny. A good 40 pages of the book detail comic philosophy, some of which was interesting, none of which belonged in this book. I would speed read the section for the most part, hoping that it ended soon. However, it did not occur. The second issue was the retaliation chapter. Apparently two people had decided to criticize Mr. Adams for something, which I agree with the information he provided not truly adequate. But I really don't care who has a beef with him, or whom he has a beef with. I found the entire chapter to be a waste. It was a rap song insulting some one else, and just did not fit with the rest of the book.

I feel compared to the Dilbert Principle, this is a much weaker book and would have been better without the aforementioned chapters (I would recommend putting the book down after page 180 or so.)

Funny, but less successful than other Dilbert books Feb 15, 2009
Scott Adams' main theme here is how to find "joy" in the mind-numbing, soul-destroying environment that I like to think of as "the office." Compared to some of his other books: (1) it has a weaker overall theme; (2) it relies less on the Dilbert comics; (3) it has fewer "Scott Adams monologues"; and (4) it makes much greater use of email and other contributions from Dilbert fans. Taken together, these features make it a more sprawling, less cohesive, and (alas) less funny book.

But still funny. He has a great collection of office pranks, from harmless fun to mean and not so harmless. There's a lot of material on how to shirk work, some of which could be taken seriously while much could not. OK, but it's weird to mix the two. The book has a lot of chapters like that -- some worthy material but odd mixes and choices that don't work as well as his other books. Read those first, and if you want more, turn to this one later.

Hilarious Jan 17, 2009
Dilbert has been one of the funniest comics for as long as I can remember. The reason, in my opinion, is that creator Scott Adams combines everyday work situations with unexpected conclusions, at least, in the eyes of a staunch businessperson. What it comes down to is that you can find humor in anything, especially those things where the people who are the most funny are the ones who either have no sense of humor or have no idea that anything humorous is even taking place.

Some of these answers appear in The Joy of Work gives in-depth knowledge regarding how Adams derives his daily comics. Not only that, but it gives insight into how you, too, can get more out of work without doing much work, or in some cases, no work. You'll also find anecdotes from others trapped in the corporate world who have taken matters into their own hands to find happiness in their respective cubes.

Adams isn't just a good cartoonist; his writing keeps readers entertained, and like the Dilbert strip, he relates to a wide variety of individuals. What I like most about this book is that he really does lend a hand to those people who may be humor deficient. Following his array of ideas and instructions could potentially make your work environment tolerable!

Then again, some of that depends on what type of people you have as upper management in your company. If they are funny and likable, you are set. If they are completely clueless, you'll be OK as well. If they are smart and mean, then ... why are you still working there in the first place?

Disappointing but not too bad Sep 12, 2007
His other text-heavy books are much better; this one felt either too mean spirited or too forced.

Just like my job! Apr 10, 2007
The book has great ideas to keep you happy at work, at the expense of others. Adams gives his justification for why you need to be happier at work, and flashes a glimpse of that cynicism many white collar workers share when working for a big corporation. One of my favorite parts of the book was his explanation for what makes things funny, the 2 of 6 rule. If you have any interest being funny, it's a helpful recipe for concocting humor that I found to be helpful and accurate.

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