Pointy-haired Boss

The Pointy-Haired Boss (often abbreviated to just PHB) is Dilbert's boss in the Dilbert comic strip. He is notable for his micromanagement, gross incompetence and unawareness of his surroundings, yet somehow retains power in the workplace. In the Dilbert TV series, in which he is voiced by comedian Larry Miller, the character is notably smarter (although still quite stupid) and more actively evil.

The phrase "pointy-haired boss" has acquired a generic usage to refer to incompetent managers. It is also possible to speak of someone being pointy-haired or having pointy hair metaphorically, meaning that they possess PHB-like traits.

In Dilbert

He's every employee's worst nightmare. He wasn't born mean and unscrupulous, he worked hard at it. And succeeded. As for stupidity, well, some things are inborn.

His top priorities are the bottom line and looking good in front of his subordinates and superiors (not necessarily in that order). Of absolutely no concern to him is the professional or personal well-being of his employees. The Boss is technologically challenged but he stays current on all the latest business trends, even though he rarely understands them.

— Dilbert.com character description

The PHB's real name is unknown in the comic, although in one episode of the TV series ("The Return") he signs for a package using his line dancing pseudonym "Eunice". Later in that episode, two other aliases are posted on the "Most Wanted" board in the post office (however, he thinks that is because they like him). In another episode of the series, "Art", the boss signs for another package with his real name (which is unseen), and the delivery man seems shocked when reading it. Creator Scott Adams has said it is easier to imagine the PHB as one's own boss when he is not given a name.

The Pointy-Haired Boss is mostly bald, except for a fringe of hair across the back of the head, and sideburns that rise up in points (hence, the name). Scott Adams has admitted that the Boss's odd hair was inspired by devil horns. He used to have jowls at first because Adams wanted the character to look gruff, but the boss ended up looking dumb instead.

In early strips, when he was simply "balding", the Boss was very cruel and uncaring (shocking people with electric belts or wanting them to work 178 hours a week, although there are only 168 hours in a week — he expected the employees' families to contribute a few hours). He showed few obvious signs of cluelessness. However, when the hair reached its current state of outright pointiness, he became a complete imbecile. The Boss is frequently childish, immature, ignorant, and rude, yet also annoyingly cheerful and oblivious to his own actions. In some strips, when he displays an above-average intelligence, or at least exhibits surprisingly original and cunning (albeit unethical or unscrupulous) thinking, Dilbert calls him a resourceful idiot. But most of his actions are incredibly stupid, including once in the TV series using Moviefone to check on his IBM stock. At one time on the strip, the PHB recognizes that the biggest contribution that his department does to the company is actually the "brown table meetings", and that it is the only asset that prevents them from being outsourced.

The boss made his most significant change in appearance during one month in the fall of 1991. The last appearance of the jowly boss was in the strip dated September 20, 1991, although his backside may have been seen in the September 26, 1991 strip. Following a protracted series about Elbonia, the boss reappeared on October 21, 1991 without the jowls and with the pointed hair.

The Boss's family sometimes makes an appearance in the strips, and are frequently presented as being as incompetent as him. In 1998, the Boss's son, who hid in the attic for four years instead of attending college, was hired for the company and made VP of marketing due to his complete lack of knowledge. Years later, the Boss's wife was hired as a receptionist for the company (this would be at least his third wife, as in the May 22, 2001 strip he tells Alice that he got his first and third wives using the "bait-lube-and-switch trick"). Both the Boss's wife and son share his trademark hairstyle, as do many managers in the comic strips. Dilbert was also once asked to interview the PHB's nephew for a position. He listed his work experience as "bowling" (because, although he'd only bowled once, the balls were heavy and it felt like work), and contrary to Dilbert's suggestion (to have him whacked), the PHB made him Dilbert's new boss. The Pointy-Haired Boss finds pointy hair as a positive and attractive feature, and often judges people based on the pointy-ness of their hair, such as when he promoted an employee named Ted because of a pointy "beard" that was growing on his forehead, or when he became attracted to Alice because she styled her hair like his. The PHB also has a brother named Phil, the ruler of "Heck" (a subsidiary of Hell). In the animated series, The Boss is seen driving an SUV that resembles a third-generation Mitsubishi Pajero.

In an episode of the animated series, he sends all the engineers to mandatory ethics training camp, even though management had committed all the violations. He also had very poor knowledge of ethical guidelines:

PHB: You may have heard that our company has been accused of unethical business practices.

• Alice: Is it the falsified product safety reports?
• Wally: Is it the false stories planted in the media about our competitors?
• Dilbert: Is it the crime family connections?
• PHB: What?! Are you saying those are considered unethical too?!? Good God, this thing is just snowballing!

Within Dilbert's company, the PHB represents middle management. The corporate CEOs and vice presidents of the firm are constantly changing and are usually minor characters without developed personalities. The strip isn't particularly shy about killing members of upper management.

The company's actual name, as spoken in the TV series, was "Path-Way Electronics" before merging with "E-Tech Management", making it "Path-E-Tech Management" (a play on the word "pathetic"), but when Dogbert acquired it later in the episode, there was a "Dogbert Inc." sign being lifted into place. Dogbert is later mentioned as selling the company for "not quite $10 billion".

While the boss is clueless, it is the boss who has a social life and family , while the smart ones who work for him have no social skills to speak of, and appear destined never to reproduce. (Alice is an exception; in early strips there are several references to her having a child, although other immediate family members such as a spouse are not mentioned.)

The PHB's hair has become a symbol of ineptitude and incompetence, as was noted in one strip in which Dilbert felt that his intelligence was slipping away, and noticing that "even [his] hair [felt] different". Sure enough, his hair had grown into the trademark points.

In the television series, he was mentioned as being a former atheist, having converted to some religion (it is implied he became christian, but not specifically mentioned).

In one strip, he said he was a big fan of Barney and Friends.

He has little respect from workers, and their codename for him is "the stain".

References

• "Dilbert.com - The Characters (archive.org version)". United Feature Syndicate, Inc. 2008. Retrieved 2008-02-13. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)

External links

• Description from Dilbert.com
• Excerpt from Another Day in Cubicle Paradise By Scott Adams