I Guess We Doin Circles Now / Triangle Factory
TL;DR · OriginThis meme began with a short comic posted on X (Twitter) by the user @MeatMarket__ on August 16, 2024. It is two crude panels that look drawn in MS Paint. A blue circle comes…
Origin
This meme began with a short comic posted on X (Twitter) by the user @MeatMarket__ on August 16, 2024. It is two crude panels that look drawn in MS Paint. A blue circle comes down the conveyor belt at a factory that makes red triangles; the first worker picks it up and exclaims, "a circle?? in the triangle factory?? how queer!!" The second worker glances at the blue circle and answers flatly, "I guess we doin circles now." The original is preserved in the Know Your Meme entry for "A Circle?? In the Triangle Factory??"
By the artist's own account, it was originally about what routinely happens at their workplace: policy changes from above arrive without explanation, and the floor neither questions it nor is surprised, it just follows. The temperature difference between the two workers — one scandalized by the rule break, the other long since resigned — is the whole comic, and the heart of the meme.
Spread
The response was immediate. The original post cleared 200,000 likes over the weekend, and remixes followed at once. The drawing being so simple that anyone could redraw it was the precondition for that spread.
Variations went in two main directions. One swaps the triangles and circles for real products to satirize a specific company suddenly changing course. The other extends the story, with sequels introducing new shapes — a green square, for instance — to confound the workers further. Changing the ending, or replacing the second worker's line entirely, was also common.
Usage
- Saying "I guess we doin circles now" in resignation when an organization abruptly changes direction.
- Depicting a situation where nobody raises an objection to an obviously odd decision.
- Citing it when an industry or brand ships something unrelated to its own identity.
- Contrasting the person scandalized by a rule break with the person who gave up long ago.
Sources
- Know Your Meme, "A Circle?? In the Triangle Factory?? / I Guess We Doin Circles Now" — confirms the August 16, 2024 original post by X user @MeatMarket__, the exact lines, the 200,000 likes, and the derivative patterns
- Daily Dot, "I Guess We Doin' The Triangle Factory Meme Now" — the artist's workplace as the comic's basis, and how it spread
- Know Your Meme guide, "What's The 'Triangle Factory' And 'I Guess We Doin Circles Now' Meme?" — an overview of the sequels, including the green square
