February 26, 2008
2:37 am |
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Work/Life: Did You Hear About The Guy Who Got Fired Over a Dilbert Cartoon?
| posted by Tom Stern
- As the creator of a comic strip character myself, I have, in some very early blog postings, poked a little fun at Scott Adams, creator of Dilbert. Well, those days are over. As some of you may know, Adams has been bravely running a series of strips in response to one of his own jokes being responsible for getting some poor guy fired.
- David Steward, an employee of the Catfish Casino in Des Moines, Iowa for the past seven years, posted a Dilbert cartoon in the office poking fun at management. The punch line that got him fired was “why does it seem as if most of the decisions in my workplace are made by a bunch of drunken lemurs?” In a testimony over Steward’s claim for damages, his human resources director claimed that Steward was ostensibly calling his management team drunken lemurs, and that such an insult is considered misconduct. Steward told ABC News that, basically, folks “need to have a sense of humor.”
- Amen to that. Man, if I had a nickel for every time a client called me a drunken lemur, I could retire. Come to think of it, if I had a nickel for every time a client called me a toxic manatee, I could also retire. If I had, say, a dollar for every time a head of personnel called me an inflamed coatimundi, I would at the very least be able to take a couple of years off.
- I’m not usually a fan of the phrase “lighten up.” I’ve often found it is said by people who are afraid of being confronted with a serious thought. However, in this case, the phrase applies. My goodness, the President of the United States, in any administration, is lampooned on a daily basis by Leno, Letterman, Saturday Night Live and the rest. If the leader of the free world has to suck it up when people express a little satire, then management at an establishment in Iowa can suck it up, too. Besides, they have painted themselves into an ethical corner: really, they have to go after Scott Adams now, as he is making fun of them on a larger scale than their employee ever could have. But, that would only fan the no-sense of humor flames. Adams, for his part, does advise the rest of us to stick with Garfield at work, saying no one ever got fired over loving lasagna.
- In the meantime, perhaps someone out there could tell me why my daughter thinks our house is run by a couple of clueless ocelots?
