But hens don’t have lips so it’s not a total failure.
“Does a chicken have lips?” is an old and presumably familiar nonsense question.
The only real question here is why the dude thought a bird was qualified to test lipstick in the first place.
@ Kamino Neko – Strictly speaking, the chicken was running the department, so she wasn’t necessarily a test candidate herself.
Maybe they’ve phased out animal testing of cosmetics?
why assume the chicken is already employed by the company? Maybe it is a job interview and the chicken is applying for the position..
@Kevin, take note of the “anymore”.
Now he has to fire the penguin who’s been heading up the knee pad testing.
““Does a chicken have lips?” is an old and presumably familiar nonsense question.”
Is it?
I think “as rare as hen’s teeth” is more common. Hence it’d be better if it were a toothpaste company.
However not frequently heard “does a chicken have lips” it was still easy for me to infer chickens don’t have lips and to get the joke so I can’t say it doesn’t work because it does. And if “does a chicken have lips” is a common phrase so much the better.
I did wonder about the chicken ever having been able to manage the department in the past, or that managing doesn’t mean she needs to do any testing herself and that weakened the joke. But not enough to ruin it.
… But on the other hand, this could be a incompetent bureaucracy joke in that they hired an unqualified chicken in the first place and only noticed years later that she really wasn’t equipped to do so.
No, no, you’ve all missed the point. It’s not about the lips. The chicken has obviously been able to run the department just fine in the past.
What we see here is ageism. He’s firing this employee because he/she is “no spring chicken”.
Sadly, ageism in the workplace is far too prevalent. As I’m over 50 now, I have certainly seen this. Experience is rarely valued, instead they’d prefer to hire some fresh-faced newb fresh out of community college. I think another problem is that the person to whom the older worker would be reporting may be younger than the worker and they are intimidated by the prospect of managing someone who knows more than them. If they were smart and secure, they would want to draw on that wisdom, but most executives I’ve met are incompetent, insecure boobs who own their positions to cronyism and the Peter Principle. Lest you think I’m embittered, I have met some executives who were amazing; smart and gifted people who knew how to inspire people and get the best out of them.
Maybe it was a human who somehow turned into a chicken and therefore doesn’t have lips any more.
Right: he shouldn’t have tested the lipstick on himself; look what happened to him!
The department head was good at coming up with shades of lipstick that flattered women’s complexions three quarters of the year, but failed miserably when it came to the other three months. So, as Singapore Bill said, he’s getting let go because he is indeed no spring chicken.
Comics I Don't Understand 
It’d work better if it were a toothpaste company.
Or if it were a pig in the lipstick company.
But hens don’t have lips so it’s not a total failure.
“Does a chicken have lips?” is an old and presumably familiar nonsense question.
The only real question here is why the dude thought a bird was qualified to test lipstick in the first place.
@ Kamino Neko – Strictly speaking, the chicken was running the department, so she wasn’t necessarily a test candidate herself.
Maybe they’ve phased out animal testing of cosmetics?
why assume the chicken is already employed by the company? Maybe it is a job interview and the chicken is applying for the position..
@Kevin, take note of the “anymore”.
Now he has to fire the penguin who’s been heading up the knee pad testing.
““Does a chicken have lips?” is an old and presumably familiar nonsense question.”
Is it?
I think “as rare as hen’s teeth” is more common. Hence it’d be better if it were a toothpaste company.
However not frequently heard “does a chicken have lips” it was still easy for me to infer chickens don’t have lips and to get the joke so I can’t say it doesn’t work because it does. And if “does a chicken have lips” is a common phrase so much the better.
I did wonder about the chicken ever having been able to manage the department in the past, or that managing doesn’t mean she needs to do any testing herself and that weakened the joke. But not enough to ruin it.
… But on the other hand, this could be a incompetent bureaucracy joke in that they hired an unqualified chicken in the first place and only noticed years later that she really wasn’t equipped to do so.
No, no, you’ve all missed the point. It’s not about the lips. The chicken has obviously been able to run the department just fine in the past.
What we see here is ageism. He’s firing this employee because he/she is “no spring chicken”.
Sadly, ageism in the workplace is far too prevalent. As I’m over 50 now, I have certainly seen this. Experience is rarely valued, instead they’d prefer to hire some fresh-faced newb fresh out of community college. I think another problem is that the person to whom the older worker would be reporting may be younger than the worker and they are intimidated by the prospect of managing someone who knows more than them. If they were smart and secure, they would want to draw on that wisdom, but most executives I’ve met are incompetent, insecure boobs who own their positions to cronyism and the Peter Principle. Lest you think I’m embittered, I have met some executives who were amazing; smart and gifted people who knew how to inspire people and get the best out of them.
Maybe it was a human who somehow turned into a chicken and therefore doesn’t have lips any more.
Right: he shouldn’t have tested the lipstick on himself; look what happened to him!
The department head was good at coming up with shades of lipstick that flattered women’s complexions three quarters of the year, but failed miserably when it came to the other three months. So, as Singapore Bill said, he’s getting let go because he is indeed no spring chicken.