Workplace discrimination? Early in Season Two, Ted gets fired from his boring accounting job after being caught by his boss masturbating at his desk. Actually, he wasn't masturbating - he was viewing a gay sex video and was startled into accidentally spilling liquid into his lap when his boss arrived. But all Ted's co-workers had been watching sex videos as well, and they weren't fired - obviously, Ted thinks, because they are straight. It's a clear case of discrimination!
This must be some workplace! At one point in the day the entire (all-male) accounting department is simultaneously viewing sex videos, in full screen, in an open-concept office where privacy is not assured. Apparently the IT department hasn't noticed the sharp spike in internet usage during some times of the day, nor what sites are being visited. Apparently the managers have never thought of installing filters preventing access to sex sites. But they do have fairly standard policies about inappropriate use of company equipment and inappropriate work behavior, and too bad for Ted, he was caught violating them.
In real life, Ted might talk to his legal advisor who might or might not tell him he had grounds for wrongful dismissal; but in all likelihood, he would not be encouraged to consider it to be flagrantly anti-gay discrimination (as Melanie tells him). I am sure that tightass Mr. Worcshafter would be just as likely to dump any other employee caught engaging in workplace misconduct. (Although it seems he's very near-sighted.)
And the point of this? The writers might have contented themselves with writing a bawdy little satire of how Ted is fired from his job for viewing porn, but turns the tables by creating a new job for himself as a producer of same. There was no need to try to shoehorn in another dubious moral.
This must be some workplace! At one point in the day the entire (all-male) accounting department is simultaneously viewing sex videos, in full screen, in an open-concept office where privacy is not assured. Apparently the IT department hasn't noticed the sharp spike in internet usage during some times of the day, nor what sites are being visited. Apparently the managers have never thought of installing filters preventing access to sex sites. But they do have fairly standard policies about inappropriate use of company equipment and inappropriate work behavior, and too bad for Ted, he was caught violating them.
In real life, Ted might talk to his legal advisor who might or might not tell him he had grounds for wrongful dismissal; but in all likelihood, he would not be encouraged to consider it to be flagrantly anti-gay discrimination (as Melanie tells him). I am sure that tightass Mr. Worcshafter would be just as likely to dump any other employee caught engaging in workplace misconduct. (Although it seems he's very near-sighted.)
And the point of this? The writers might have contented themselves with writing a bawdy little satire of how Ted is fired from his job for viewing porn, but turns the tables by creating a new job for himself as a producer of same. There was no need to try to shoehorn in another dubious moral.
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