[ale] a good Fri afternoon OT post...

[tslane at attbi.com]

I just finished removing about a mile of velcro tape to 
take home from several dozen server boxes coworkers had 
finally put in the trash pile when I wondered:

at what point does "giving old hardware a good home" 
become pilfering and possible criminal?

I remember having to take this stupid career 
planning/ethics class in HS where they said you should 
never take so much as a paperclip home from the office 
(nor user the copier, etc.).  without pointing out that 
my employeer has no problem with me using my personal 
cell phone, PC, cable modem, etc. for them w/o 
reimbursement (whoops, I guess I just did:) I doubt 
there's anyone on this board who's NEVER got an old HD, 
monitor, etc. from work and was just wondering about 
the ethics of it especially since we frequently 
influence deciding what goes to the junk pile.  not 
that I'm feeling particularly GUILTY, mind you, just 
curious what other's thoughts were on this subject, 
particularly:

1.  what's the MOST valueable item you ever got from 
work?  I work w/a guy who took home an HP9000 which we 
honestly were going to sell for salvage but we're also 
the ones who says what's obsolete & needs upgrading

2.  have you or anyone you've ever worked with gotten 
in trouble for taking something home?

3.  just in a broad sense what are your thoughts on 
this topic?

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