For some reason I keep losing this, so here’s to not losing it again.

I’m in Dilbert Principle

Check it out. Page 284, upper half. Here’s the letter from Scott:

From rjones 19:21:46 1995
Subject: Re: FW: Question from Scott Adams
To: ScottAdams@aol.com
Date: Mon, 10-23-1995 19:21:46 -0700 (PDT)
In-Reply-To: ScottAdams@aol.com

1. Yes

Ry Jones

I’m writing a book tentatively titled THE DILBERT PRINCIPLE that will be published next year by HarperCollins. It’s part cartoons, part witty text and part “best of” stories and quotes from e-mail.

I’d like your permission to include your previous message to me, anonymously, edited as shown at the bottom of this message. It would be WITHOUT attribution, indicating only that it came to me by e-mail. I edited some peoples’ messages to conceal the names of organizations and other contextual clues.

Your permission would include use in all media in addition to the book, including publicity, advertising, body tattoos, graffiti, online media, Movie of the Week, CD Rom, serialization, cereal, foreign languages, hieroglyphics, yadda, yadda, yadda. Your permission would also indicate that you’re the author of the e-mail message and it’s not copyrighted by somebody else.

I’m on deadline and handling bunches of these, so the only responses I can use are:

  1. Yes 2. No 3. Yes, as revised by you

Please copy back this entire e-mail message in your response so I can keep it all straight. And please include your name in your message.

Thank you very much for your time. I’ve gotten over 50,000 e-mail messages, so the few I’ve selected as candidates for the book are true gems and very much appreciated. With your permission, others will get to enjoy them too.

—— Text of your original [edited] message below ——-

At [company], a lot of business is done in the hallway. Getting dragged into these ad hoc meetings can be a huge time-waster; however, it’s hard to avoid them because the participants always seem to want everyone’s opinion.

I have taken to either excusing myself to the restroom to get out of them, or carrying ice back to my office from the kitchen in by hand. That way, when I get caught in a meeting, I can say “See, this ice is melting and my hand is cold. I must go now.” They let me out, and nobody seems to question the utility or business case for my ferrying ice around all day.

Scott Adams