Is this offensive? A liability? "Unemployed" computer in lunchroom

[KurtNYC]

I work for a large accounting firm and they recently placed a retired VAX7000 at the bottom of the escalators that lead to the cafeteria. This is a computer from the 1970s, roughly the size of a refrigerator. Next to the computer is a sign on an easle which say in large letters:
Unemployed
The sign goes on to talk about how this computer was used until recently to generate invoices and such. It continues the metaphor by talking about how this computer is "old" and "slow" and in general makes a joke out of unemployment and 'firing' a company asset even though it worked here non-stop for decades, because it is now seen as old and slow.

Would you find this offensive personally? and do you think it is a liability (something which could be cited in a wrongful termination lawsuit as being representative of the company's attitude)?

[Bronco69]

1. It certainly isn't funny if that's what they were trying to do.

And yes, on a certain level I do find it somewhat offensive. Maybe they should just go out on the street and get an elderly homeless person who lost their job to bush's* outsourcing and stand him/her next to the computer for an even bigger guffaw.

[fluffernutter]

2. offensive and a possible liability. but mostly stupid.

does anyone at your firm find it funny?

[KurtNYC]

4. I don't

But it got printed (professionally on foam core) and has been up for a week. Computer humor is an oxymoron. Few people seem to notice it but I wouldn't want to be our HR lawyers when the prosecution wheels a copy of that sign into the courtroom.

AND they could have done much better simply by making the computer "retired" and talking about how it will spend its days running "Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2005" software and the like.

[fluffernutter]

6. my thoughts exactly on the "retired" sign instead.

[Blue Diadem]

9. I like your idea

Is there a way you could suggest it. It would be a respectful way of showing off the computer and honoring it for it's work well done in its prime.

The current display gives the appearance that the company may condone age discrimination.

[WritersBlock]

3. I would vote yes on "offensive."

And I'd take lots of pictures of it for documentation just in case it was needed to show liability. Even if it doesn't constitute liability, it at least sure wouldn't look good for the company in an employment tribunal, would it?

[MsAnthropy]

5. Typical of corporation-think. You, too, will be set aside

when you get old, slow, and no longer an asset to the company. The black humor of those in power.

[Coyote_Bandit]

7. I'm an Unemployed Schmuck

Have been for over 2 years now. I'm educated (BA, MA, MBA, JD), in my early 40's, and have recently updated my skills (MBA was earned in 2001). I have a fairly respectable work history. And NO prospects of employment anytime in the forseeable future. And just a couple of days ago I spent the better part of 3 HOURS talking to a tech support guy in New Delhi India.

It is all about the almighty dollar. That is all the corporate guys (and gals) and their stockholders, investors, and bankers care about. People are fungible and expendable. And as long as something doesn't affect you, well, as they say, **** happens. Life is, after all, all about "me," right? We have largely become a nation of greedy f*cks.

Offended? Yes. But perhaps more saddened and angry. As a greedy, selfish, materialistic society we have lost the ability to care for other people - and with it our humanity. We've traded compassion for pride. And pride, according to Scripture, goes before a fall.

[TeddyKGB]

8. You've got to be kidding.

Try taking yourself a little less seriously.

If there is any serious intention behind it (which I doubt), it's using it as comic relief for the you-can-lose-your-job-anyday mentality a lot of people live with in America now.

It's an inanimate object. Treat it as such. Yikes.

[Coyote_Bandit]

11. Guns Don't Kill. People Kill.

Just because it is an inanimate object does not mean it should be dismissed. After all, some other person or group of people were responabile for making and placing that sign. Would you ignore a five year old playing with a loaded gun?

[TeddyKGB]

12. Um...huh?

Can anyone translate for me?

[Coyote_Bandit]

15. Someone Made that "Unemployed" Sign

It is obvious that you think their motives were purely above reproach. And, apparently, anyone in my shoes is overly sensitive.

Perhaps I should just get my tin cup now and go stand on the street corner so that I can have the privilege of being condemned and spat upon by my fellow citizens. I am a single person without family to support me. And, eventually, without a job that enables me to be self-supporting I will end up living under a bridge and standing on a street corner somewhere. When money becomes the master we all become expendable tools.

Simply put it is not about an inanimate object - it is about the message that object sends and the motives and agenda of those of who choose to display it.

I'm sure you will understand why some of us find that "inanimate object" offensive when you are on the downhill side of middle age and jobless with a collection of well over a thousand rejection letters (with a response rate wellbelow 50%). Tthe flexibility of being willing to relocate, to change careers and industries and to accept an entry level position will not get you a job.

It is not about the sign - it is about the message and the motives that underly its creation and display. In other words, it is not the gun that kills, it is the person who pulls the trigger that kills.

Hit me with your best shot. Fire away.

[DelawareValleyDem]

10. Think it's more dumb than offensive

although I'd probably feel differently if my employment situation wasn't fairly stable.

[ThorsHammer]

13. Not offensive, but dumb and a possible liability

[HEyHEY]

14. I'd look for a new job - who wants to work with that kind a place?

[Xithras]

16. ROFL

I guess you have to be a computer geek to get it, but I am, and it is.

For what it's worth, when we retired an old IBM mainframe at a previous employer, a computer which had served the company well for over 25 years, we had a full blown funeral complete with a capgun firing squad to do the 21 gun salute and Taps playing in the background...some of our employees who were veterans found that insulting as well.

What can I say, computer geek humor tends to be odd, and very un-PC. We tend to get very attached to our equipment when we work with it year in and year out and attach personalities to them (I'm working with a server right now that absolutely hates me). When the time comes to retire them, it's not uncommon to have some kind of "going away" party, or even to show it off the way your company did.

My suggestion is for you to lighten up. I'd bet that if you looked into it, you'd find that the idea came out of your company IT department and not its management. It's a joke had at the expense of a piece of hardware...nothing to get worked up over.

By the way, VMS r0x! I'd love to own that old VAX box.