At times THGTTG has seemed less like fiction than non-fiction. Anyone not seen a Vogon throw a coworker out the nearest airlock just because they couldn't appreciate the captain's 'poetry'? And who hasn't found themselves in a project with an SEP thrown around it? Though Marvin did seem a bit more cheerful than some I've worked with...

[SEP - Somebody Else's Problem field - useful for encouraging people to not see things that are in plain sight, not acknowledging existence, etc.]