Some of you know that I am a software tester. A precarious job when dealing with developers who take pride in their work. I find bugs, and some of them take it personally. I don’t ever mean it that way, and have to be diplomatic in the way that I talk to them about their code. I also try to bring a sense of humor to the department as evidenced by my office:

Notice the head. The sheep is not my doing, but it’s funny, so I left it there. A hog-tied sheep hanging above my desk, what could be better?

Remembering that we write ASP .Net application called CHAIN, I wrote the following ode to our senior developer….

Ode to Jim Kinsey

1 Jim is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.

2 He makes me lie down in zeros and ones,
he leads me beside .Net user manuals,

3 he restores my soul.
He guides me in paths of righteousness
for the CHAIN’s sake.

4 Even though I walk
through the valley of the shadow of bugs,
I will fear no evil,
for Jim is with me;
his mouse and your keyboard,
they comfort me.

5 On Wednesdays he prepares a build before me
in the presence of mine enemies, the bugs.
He anoints my screen with CHAIN love;
my ROM overflows.

6 Surely goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the CHAIN
forever.

I and several other people thought it was funny. And I’m sure God has a sense of humor, He’s a Good Guy, right? I wrote that for my departments eyes only, quite a while ago.

Which is why I was a little surprised when it appeared in the company bi-weekly newsletter, but whatever, I didn’t think anything about it. I knew it might ruffle some feathers, but I didn’t think it would be a huge deal. It’s also important to note that the deciding forces who published the little mash-up poem/bible verse edited out the numbering, so that it looked even less like a bible verse.

Apparently it was a huge deal.

I got a headsup email from a co-worker about it. This particular person is responsible for the newsletter’s publication.

From : [name and address suppressed]
Sent : Thursday, July 14, 2005 9:06 AM
To : lovenotfear
Subject : fyi

I was scolded this morning for the tweaked bible poem. Scolding person said she was going to talk to you but I insisted that you had nothing to do with the poem’s inclusion. Don’t know if she is still planning to talk to you, but just so’s you know.

So literal, these people. And so testy.

I do not save my SENT messages, so I cannot include the complete thread. Apparently, though, this got carried away, and several other people were reprimanded, along with a formal complaint being filed with HR.

Here’s the rest of the partial thread I have…

I for one do not get it, but whatever. What, like god got no sense of humor? We make fun of everything/one else….

…For me it was this:

her: I want to run something by you.
me: okay, what’s up
her: that poem that you ran in the [newsletter], of [Marc's], don’t ever do that again.
me: (in my head: okay, that sounds a lot more like an order than ‘running something by me, but okay) out loud: okay
her: because it is a religious poem that he took and twisted (not sure about this exact wording) and it was really inappropriate and I’ve already had a complaint
me:
her: and I’m going to talk to [xxxxx] and Marc about it too
me: okay
me: sorry
her: oh, no. (no, don’t be sorry? no, it’s not a big deal? I didn’t get that last part)

then about two minutes later I sent her the email that says not your fault, so I doubt she’ll even talk to you. Because, what, she can’t get pissed at you for WRITING it, only at us for putting it in there.

Anyway, the whole thing just reinforced my opinion that people who give a shit about what other people say/write about what THEY believe in but that other people may not and are NOT REQUIRED to believe in are a pain in the ass.

and FURTHERMORE

why do they get to be the arbiters of good taste? Why can we put mention of [xxxxx's] freakishly large pencil but not a poem for Jim Kinsey? Because religious writing has never inspired anything else, god knows, throughout the years.

I’m fired up now.

OK, so I realize that the poem is probably not work appropriate, just as religious email FWDs in the office or hanging religious posters in one’s office is not work appropriate unless one works in a church office, for example. However, as I stated before, several people for whom it was intended found it amusing. And really, I find the whole situation amusing, because these religious nuts take themselves far far far too seriously. It’s a good thing they missed my earlier poetic efforts. I’m sure they really would have loved it.