39,327
edits
Pointy-Haired Boss: Difference between revisions
m
Mass update links
Looney Toons (talk | contribs) m (Looney Toons moved page Pointy Haired Boss to Pointy-Haired Boss: Adding proper punctuation to page name) |
m (Mass update links) |
||
Line 6:
'''Dilbert:''' [[Stealth Insult|They remind me of you, sir]].|''[[Dilbert (Comic Strip)|Dilbert]]''}}
The living embodiment of [[The Peter Principle]]. This is a person who has been promoted way beyond his level of competency. He or she may have had a clue at some point, but has since then misplaced it. Sometimes it is a [[Modern Major
Often the result of being [[Kicked Upstairs]]. [[Incompetence, Inc.]] is a likely place to find PHBs. Occasionally is surrounded by ''very'' competent workers when [[Conservation of Competence]] is in effect.
Very often such a boss is portrayed as not only incompetent, but also a little evil: The kind of guy who would steal credit from his employees and pin failure on them. In these cases he can be ''more'' contemptible than the [[Corrupt Corporate Executive]] whom he serves; while the [[Corrupt Corporate Executive]] sold his soul for money, power and fame, an evil Pointy-Haired Boss [[Evil Is Petty|sold his soul for nothing]] but a job little better than that of his employees, and doesn't seem bothered by it.
Line 15:
All too often this is [[Truth in Television]].
{{examples
== Comic Strips ==
Line 24:
** [http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2006-10-06/ Of course, he manages to get some pretty good evil moments in too.]
** [http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/2004-08-29/ And some useful moments as well.]
** Adams himself, when running a restaurant, realized that he was becoming a [[Pointy
* In ''[[Retail]]'', just about anybody at the level of store manager or higher is portrayed as a PHB.
* Ralph, Sally's original boss in ''[[Sally Forth Howard (Comic Strip)|Sally Forth Howard]]''.
Line 43:
* Hamnpork, leader of the Clan in ''[[Discworld (Literature)/The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents|The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents]]'', may have been competent as top rat before they became "educated". Once the rats become sentient, he's too old to make the adjustment to thinking and becomes a bit of a figurehead, nudged into doing whatever Peaches or Darktan want him to. Played with, as he later shows just why he became leader of the Clan during a [[Badass]] moment {{spoiler|in the Pit}}.
* George O. Smith's first "Venus Equilateral" story has a particularly memorable example... or at least a particularly memorable screwup by a PHB. The guy arrives, starts screwing things up and annoying people, tensions run higher and higher until there are pointless fights almost constantly... then an engineer swears, runs up to the center of the rotating station to get his bearings, then runs to the air plant - then runs to scream out the PHB. When the PHB arrived on the station, he'd done an inspection tour, and been confused by the air plant; he'd been expecting some manner of machine, but all he'd found was a big plot of sawgrass, '''''so he had some workmen clear it out...'''''
* ''[[The Phantom of the Opera]]'': Deconstructed with Opera managers Richard and Moncharmin in the original book: Everybody knows they get their jobs [[Screw the Rules, I Have Connections|thanks to their connections]], [[Evil Is Petty|that they play petty politics with the singers instead of recognizing their true talent, and they solve any problem firing those employees involved…]] [[Screw the Rules, I Have Connections|except those who can defend themselves]]. [[Stealth Insult|Nobody really respects them and they are accustomed to cruel pranks]], and that is the cause they never take seriously the Phantom’s menaces and think that Debienne and Poligny’s warnings are just a [[Practical Joke]]… until the [[Falling Chandelier of Doom]] incident.
* ''[[Vorkosigan Saga|Falling Free]]:'' Bruce Van Atta: a former engineer, transferred to management where he would hopefully cause less damage. When Leo Graff sets off his plan to reconfigure the Quaddie's space station so that they can steal it, he tells Van Atta that he will be surprised by how much of the station, that Van Atta thinks is being decommissioned, can be "recycled." Van Atta insists that all of Leo's plans go through his office--so he can take Leo's name off them, and replace them with his own so he can take the credit.
== Live-Action TV ==
* ''[[
** Lieutenant Colonel Henry Blake exhibited signs of this, as he was a good doctor but an almost criminally incompetent administrator. Radar practically ran the unit, only requiring Blake to sign off on documents. One time he got Blake to sign ''blank'' pieces of paper even as Blake railed about not knowing what he's signing.
** Blake was also completely aware that he was totally inept when it came to running the unit. He was completely competent when it came to make serious medical decisions (i.e. in the OR, or anything to do with patient care), but realized he didn't know what he was doing when it came to other administrative matters. To that end, he was completely happy to let Radar run things.
Line 60:
* The laughably incompetent Colonel Klink of ''[[Hogan's Heroes]]''. It's been mentioned that he's from noble stock, so he most likely got the position through nepotism more than any real leadership ability. He confirms in one episode that his family pressured him into the military to get rid of him. However, he is also a career officer with decorations for bravery in [[WW 1]]; he used to be a pilot. It is almost certain he got promoted to his current position in an attempt to get rid of him, both as a bumbling fool and as a non-member of the Nazi party.
* Major Neuheim of ''[[Private Schulz]]'' is pretty much what Colonel Klink would be like if he was a die-hard Nazi.
* In ''[[
{{quote| '''Jack:''' I've been reading up on humor, I found this hilarious strip called ''[[Dilbert]]'', and I want to know, can we do that?}}
* Captain Frank Hollister of ''[[Red Dwarf (TV)|Red Dwarf]]'' is revealed to have only reached his rank through blackmail (from the lowly position of Doughnut Boy no less), implying that he is possibly even less qualified than Rimmer or Lister (though clearly cleverer and/or more ambitious).
Line 66:
* Dougie in ''[[Enlightened]]'' is a sort of example. While he is actually rather good at programming, his people-management skills are horrible, and he is pretty socially inept.
* ISO Administrator Mike Goss in ''[[Defying Gravity]]'' is shaping up to be this, grinding subordinates faces in their mistakes while refusing to admit to or back away from his own.
* ''[[The Brittas Empire]]'' revolves around one of these running a previously ordinary leisure center. Gordon Brittas ([[Hey
* Arthur "Big Guy" Carlson, of ''[[WKRP in Cincinnati]]''.
* In ''[[Are You Being Served (TV)|Are You Being Served]]'', much of the senior staff at Grace Brothers could fit this category. Mr. Rumbold is the most blatant example, but a recurring theme is that ''everyone'' in a position of authority at the store is incompetent; Captain Peacock is a blowhard, Mrs. Slocombe is far too self-absorbed to be much help to anything [[Double Entendre|except for her pussy]], Mr. Grainger is worn-out and well past the point when he should have retired, and Young Mr. Grace is virtually senile. Only [[The Barnum|Mr Humphries]] can handle additional responsibilities while escaping mostly unscathed.
* ''[[The Wire]]'' has several outstanding examples, both in city government and the Baltimore Police Department, with almost all authority figures fitting in somewhere between [[Corrupt Corporate Executive]] and [[Pointy
* This is how Major Norton was portrayed in [[Disney]]'s ''[[Davy Crockett]]'' mini-series, though he may have just seemed this way against [[Badass|Davy]].
Line 90:
== Web Comics ==
* The Magic School's Headmaster in ''[[Furmentation]]''.
* Lord Stanley the Tool from ''[[Erfworld (Webcomic)|Erfworld]]''. He is not only is a [[Pointy
* The head developer of ''Clichequest'', the satirically stereotypical MMORPG that ''[[The Noob]]'' is set in and around, is an idiot, [[Jerkass]] and [[Ted Baxter]] to boot.
* Mike in ''[[Between Failures]]'' is self-aware and trying not to be one of these, but his management training was inadequate to prepare him for the job, and those in charge of him have fobbed him off on one of the least important branch stores rather than trying to help him.
Line 105:
== Western Animation ==
* The ''[[Dilbert (Animation)|Dilbert]]'' TV series. See the Comics Strips section for more on ''[[Dilbert (Comic Strip)|Dilbert]]'' in general.
* Mr. Larrity from ''[[Code Monkeys]]'' outdoes perhaps even the [[Trope Namers]]; the man has no clue how to run a video game company (other than knowing that Games = $$$), generally treats his staff like crap, displays unapologetic [[Stay in The Kitchen|sexism]], has been known to do such outrageous things as bet Gameavision on a ''clearly'' bad Poker hand (that includes cards ''[[What an Idiot!|not even found in a standard deck of cards, like a blue Uno Reverse]]'')... one could go on forever and not even ''scratch'' the surface.
* The [[Maurice La Marche]]-voiced characters [[My Gym
* ''[[Cat Dog]]'': Rancid Rabbit.
* Major Monogram from ''[[Phineas and Ferb (Animation)|Phineas and Ferb]]'' drifts into this sometime. While most cases Doofenshmirtz is usually doing something to warrant sending Perry to stop him. There are a few instances where Doofenshmirtz is usually taking an off day such as going on a blind date, meeting an old teacher, going to a convention, ''actually being sick'', etc., but Monogram doesn't really bother to look into these case and send Perry to "stop him" anyway.<br />Then again, even in those occasions, Doofenshmirtz was doing something that should be stopped. In the blind date, Doof had developed a device to deprive people of their emotions if his date failed; to impress the "old teacher", he tried to blow up the moon; the convention was for evil scientists so, there was a reason to think someone (even if it wasn't Doofenshmirtz) would do something Perry should stop; when he got run over by an ice cream truck, he tried to hit the truck with a giant tire. Even when Major Monogram sent Perry to Doofenshmirtz because Doof was picking up empty bottles for recycling, it turned out it was for some plot ("It's green ''and'' evil! I call it 'greevil'!").
| |||