Catbert and other obstacles....

It's not just dim-witted time servers like PHB who make the work environment a nasty one; there are other idiots who inflict inhumane policies they're too stupid and timid to question. The first of these nuisances is Catbert, the Evil Human Resources manager; his function is to implement policies that are irrational, sadistic and irritating out of the sheer love of human suffering as well as the belief that an anxious employee is a productive one. The reasoning behind casting an anthropomorphic cat is, of course, the belief that cats look friendly but are actually mean and destructive....just like people in human resources. He has company in making the workplace an annoyance; just as he destroys morale because he believes that his anxiety-inducing policies will somehow increase productivity, we have another obstructive bureaucrat who believes that making the use of information systems a frustrating ordeal magically helps the company's bottom line. Adams calls that particular speed-bump on the road to excellence "Mordac, the Preventer of Information Services". We also, of course, have to deal with the higher-ups who create the policies that jerks and dimestore tyrants like PHB, Catbert and Mordac enact; since they don't deal with the cubicle people, they don't have to worry about how messed up they make their lives.