Inanimate carbon rod

The employee of the plant who, in the event of the death/incapacitation of all other employees, would become manager before Homer. It is literally a carbon rod, inanimate. It possibly went on to have a career in the space program, when Homer unintentionally lodged a rod in the shuttle door, closing it and allowing him and the other astronauts a safe return to Earth. The rod went on to feature on the front page of Time magazine with the title 'in Rod we Trust!'. It was also given the main seat in the subsequent parade, much to Homer's annoyance;- presumably because he had been upstaged yet again by a rod. Homer then went on to turn off the video of the parade for the rod, much to the chagrin of Bart and Lisa, proclaiming that they were about to show a close-up of the rod.