Judge — January 19, 1924 — page 5: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "The End of a Perfect Day" This cartoon satirizes the overworked American businessman, repeatedly caught in conferences throughout his day. The running gag shows various men claiming "he's in a conference" as an excuse for unavailability—whether at the office, home, or elsewhere. The escalating absurdity culminates in heaven, where St. Peter tells an arriving soul "he's in a conference," and finally in hell, where the damned man continues attending conferences even after death. The satire mocks both corporate culture's obsession with endless meetings and the excuse's ubiquity as a deflection. The title's irony—calling such a day "perfect"—underscores the joke: a businessman's entire existence, from work through afterlife, is consumed by pointless conferences, suggesting this is actually his worst nightmare.