Life — May 31, 1923 — page 18: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This page presents a sequential cartoon strip satirizing daily life in a contemporary office building. The comic follows an unnamed businessman through various workplace scenarios: checking a bulletin board, navigating elevator crowds, riding in packed transit cars, and dealing with office doors and corridors. The satire targets the absurdities of modern office culture—the impersonal crowding, bureaucratic inefficiency, and repetitive monotony of corporate work. The repeated imagery of doors, elevators, and identical-looking corridors suggests the dehumanizing sameness of office environments. The style is typical of early-to-mid 20th century American humor magazines, using simple line drawings and physical comedy to comment on contemporary social anxieties about industrialization and standardized work life. The title promises to examine this modern institution, delivering gentle, observational satire rather than sharp political critique.