From a Facebook group dedicated to IBM mainframe computing...

"I will tell you a story about Gene Amdahl. One day I was in his office, he had a beautiful desk. But I noticed a big scratch in the top, and he noticed that I noticed. So he told me the story of it. As part of the marketing promotion of the 470 he was photographed with a tiger on his desk. It was a little sedated but still quite intimidating. After the photo shoot, the trainer got the tiger to get off the desk but scratched it as he jumped off. The trainer said he would sorry and that he would pay to have the desktop refinished. Gene said you’ll do no such thing, how many can say that they have a scratch in their desk from a real tiger."

Amdahl was one of the main designers of the IBM System/360, and later led a company that built computers compatible with IBM's, named for him.