A popular office saying is “I can please only one person per day. Today is not your day. Tomorrow’s not looking good, either.” The saying is often attributed to the Dilbert comic strip by Scott Adams, but there’s no evidence to support this.
“I can only please one person a day, and today ain’t your day” has been cited in print since at least September 1997.
Not So Old Proverbs
I can please only one person per day. Today is not your day.
Tomorrow’s not looking good either.
22 September 1997, Dayton (OH) Daily News, “One Liners,” pg. 6B:
“I can only please one person a day, and today ain’t your day.”
2 December 1997, Indianapolis (IN) Star, “Fax gives words of wisdom from modest authors across country” by Dick Cady, pg. D1:
TODAY IS NOT YOUR DAY. TOMORROW DOESN’T LOOK GOOD EITHER. Pretty good sign. A sign of the times, you might say. Wonder who wrote it.
New York (NY) Times
Metropolitan Diary
By Enid Nemy with Ron Alexander
Published: May 18, 1998
(...)
The man who wrote this sign on his delivery hand-cart may be a curmudgeon, but he leaves more than a few passers-by with smiles. The sign: ‘‘I can only please one person a day. Today is not your day. Tomorrow doesn’t look so good either.’‘
15 January 1999, Augusta (GA) Chronicle, “Dentist’s visit was laughable” by Bill Kirby, pg. C1, col. 1:
I can please only one person per day. Today is not your day. Tomorrow isn’t looking good either.
—Dilbert
15 February 1999, The Carillon (Steinbach, Manitoba), pg. 5C, col. 4:
On a fridge plaque: “I can only please one person a day; today is not your day—tomorrow does not look good either!”
Google Books
1001 Internet Jokes:
Get the jokes you’ve been missing
By D. M. Schwab
San Jose, CA: IUniverse.com
2001
Pg. 75:
WORDS TO LIVE BY I can please only one person per day. Today is not your day. Tomorrow isn’t looking good either.
Above, a 1934 plaque from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem. Discarded as trash in 2006. Now a Popeyes fast food restaurant on Google Maps.
Recent entries:
•“Welcome to growing older. Where all the foods and drinks you’ve loved for years suddenly seem determined to destroy you” (4/17)
•“Date someone who drinks with you instead of complaining that you drink” (4/17)
•Entry in progress—BP18 (4/17)
•Entry in progress—BP17 (4/17)
•Entry in progress—BP16 (4/17)
More new entries...
Above, Big Apple Corner at 54th Street and Broadway in Manhattan. Google Maps. Stolen and missing, 2021-2024.
Above, John J. Fitz Gerald, from the Aug. 15, 1931, Binghamton (NY) Press, pg. 14.
Listen to Robert Emmerich introduce "The Big Apple," a hit song from 1937. Music written by Bob and performed by Tommy Dorsey's Clambake Seven with Bob on piano. Lyrics written by Buddy Bernier and sung by Edythe Wright. Audio provided by Dorothy Emmerich.
Also listen to a 1937 "The Big Apple" song by Ozzie Nelson and his Orchestra. See a 1929 photo of John J. Fitz Gerald and a 1931 photo of John J. Fitz Gerald.
This site is edited by Barry Popik. These are the Cookies and Privacy Policies.