Non Sequitur by Wiley Miller for January 12, 2012

This cartoon doesn’t work for me. Could try to be witty with a “close knit” comment, but even though the guy in the cubicle resembles the boss, the two ladies are an unknown. Perhaps there should have been a family photo tying things together.

Welcome to the world of battery hens.

Hmm, yes some families do behave in a hostile manner. Some of the nastiest infighting known to mankind.

Heh. The office staff looks like two of my ex-sister-in-laws and a former brother-in-law. After they finished sucking my brother and sister dry. Hostile indeed.

Well they do have Dr Phil on speed dial///and then throw in a poster or two on the wall stating that there is “no me in team” might be another clue. Happy family companies/ just like small towns only give you one chance to fit in. Then just like a family it is black sheep time.

Hadn’t even gotten into the comments and I was chuckling. I’ve seen too many examples of both. Too many like to take the fun out of disfunctional.

If any of them offer you an orange, accept it, then slowly back out of the room, then run.

Well good morning everyone.Looks like palos woke up early and stumbled over a tripwire.Nightshade delivers a giant piece of humble pie.Bob must see the resemblance and…

I don’t get this one.

A cubicle farm can be likened to cages, which is what you would NOT expect to have in a “family” environment. I loved this one, but then again, I spend my day in a cubicle!

Not really sure I get this one, but maybe it’s just the “family” comment. Unless it’s a Mom and Pop store, no business is a family environment. When they tell you that in a corporate setting, you know they’re feeding you a line of &!%##*

He could go prairie dogging

My employer gave all its employees a course about violence in the workplace. One thing I learned is that employees who think of their co-workers as family tend toward violence. I can understand that; the expectations would be inappropriate.

Boy am I not glad I read this comic’s comments this morning :-C

I understand it perfectly. The boss/owner has browbeated the help into saying the right things in his presence and as soon as he is out of sight they quit working. The only way he can achieve the “family” status is to keep them from having eye contact when he is in the room.

Been there….

Quick, minimize the Angry Birds…

I don’t get it!

Not sure I get it. Because it’s family?

If you have a family like the one I go help out with from time to time, you’ll understand today’s strip perfectly. P. S.: I do love them all.

iḿ with palos. i don’t get it.

Those of you who don’t get it are both very fortunate in your own families, and somewhat unobservant of other families (or otherwise sheltered). Don’t worry about it, just go to a different comic that is funny to you.

Is everyone missing the point of this cartoon? It’s about the irony of the situation versus the description. The boss is telling a new employee (or an existing employee from another office, or a client, or even just a visitor – it doesn’t matter) about how it’s like a family, i.e., people are communicating with each other. But, instead, all the workers are isolated – seperated from each by walls – with no communication.

Bob could try a hostile takeover.

Last place I worked, I resided in a corporate cubeville office that when not living in Dilbertland, I was constantly reminded of the “Ticky-Tacky” song about suburban tract housing.

Another aspect of the description: he’s using the royal “we”, ’cause for sure nobody else there thinks of them as a family.

You know everyone does kinda look the same in the cubicles. Maybe the gene pool is not that deep and the family reference is very close to reality. Plus there is a guy playing a banjo just out of the picture.

The fact he’s stepping from a colorized world, into a flat, blank, blue, of icy isolation, says it all.

I think I get it from his point of view but it looks sooooo like my office environment, and we too hear the same line of BS about it being a great place to work and about our culture so often that it seems normal now;, but down deep I know that moldy bread has more culture.

I really ticked off the Snow Demons (or someone…) yesterday when I started talking about no snow in Maine. Getting lots today.

This made me laugh out loud today! For those who are looking too hard at the meaning: Families can be hostile as in quick to critcize, catch you in a mistake, kick you when you’re down, be jealous if something good happens to you, talk about you behind your back, while giving you unasked-for advice that is for your own good. Just your average disfunction. You love them, but try to avoid them if you can. You can choose your friends, but you can’t choose who you’re related to. If you enjoy your family, count yourself lucky and blessed!

A family of regimented, cubicle-dwelling serfs? Sure, it’s a family…and he’s the Wicked Stepfather. Then, too: The Godfather and The Sopranos were also about families..On the other hand, I was blessed to work for many, many years in an outfit where they could call themselves a “family” without irony — we worked together as a team, and we had each others’ backs when things went south, either professionally or personally. (Yes, even including management.) It was good. It’s rare, but it does happen.

Perhaps it has to do with the fact that they are all separated by cubicles, and they all look depressed?

What I want to know is how everyone gets the comics so much earlier than I do?

You have had some very toxic corporate envirionments (as have I) but my only sibling was worse. My brother sold the condo dad bought for them without mom’s understanding (she was so sure he had her interests at heart). He needed it to pay a lawsuit and offered me 1/2 but when I told him it was her money I never heard more (he continued to use her money (even SSA, as dad’s will gave him POA). Karma kicked in and he died of brain cancer. I never had inheiritance from our parents but I worked hard and earned until late 60s (my last layoff) and I have a nice house and living in good health.

I hear free-range clerks are healthier…

“We think of ourselves as a family.” Yeah, so did Charles Manson and his little friends…