The amount of energy spent laughing at a joke should be directly proportional to the hierarchical status of the joke teller.
Source: Dogbert, in Building a Better Life by Stealing Office Supplies: Dogbert's Big Book of Business, 1991.
-- Scott Adams, (Jun 8 1957-____), US cartoonist, author; He created the Dilbert character and comic strip; 1989; became re-engineering sage, 1996.