The PO-88 Personal Organiser
A pocket organiser issued to Kokushi staff in 1986, with an owner's manual that says installation constitutes acceptance of terms in perpetuity.
The device
The PO-88 was issued to staff from 1986: internal mail, the Pacific Leisure FM schedule, a “report a colleague” function and the company rulebook.
The owner’s manual survives. Its Terms of Issue include:
By installing, holding or looking at the organiser, the Holder accepts these Terms in perpetuity, including periods after employment, after retirement and after death.
The copy I have
The manual I was sent is issued to Employee No. 4416. Its warranty card is dated 24 Aug 1986, eleven days after 4416’s line in the visitor book stopped being written in.
Somebody kept using 4416’s organiser after 4416 was retained.
Reproduction
A reproduction of the manual is online at corporatehaiku.com/manual. It is, I’m told, the version recovered from a hacked unit, with the Corporate Haiku material left in as banned.
The manual’s troubleshooting page says that if the organiser refers to Employee 4417, it’s a “clerical error: Employee 4417 does not exist.” It was printed in 1986. Who was it written for?