Life, 1928-02-16 · page 25 of 38
Life — February 16, 1928 — page 25: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
**Top Section ("Two Employees Tear into Work"):** This is a workplace satire about employee behavior when supervisors are absent. Two office workers, Joe and Tom, boast they'll be productive without the boss "standing over you with a club," but their actual plan reveals the joke: they'll work briefly, then take extended lunch breaks, visit vaudeville shows, and generally slack off—justifying it because "the boss is out of town." The humor satirizes the gap between what workers *claim* they'll accomplish without oversight and what they actually do. **Bottom Section ("The Desert Mariner"):** This is a literary parody by Carey Holbrook mocking overwrought romantic poetry about seafaring. Each flowery line about "dragon ships" and "ivory masts" is followed by bracketed commentary exposing the author's pretension—admitting uncertainty about nautical terms, running out of ocean knowledge, and preferring to simply "wade ashore" rather than maintain the grandiose fantasy. It ridicules affected, bombastic poetry writing.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Two Employees Tear into Work While the Boss Is Away OE: So the old boy is out of town, eh? Well, that means we can get things done around this of- fice now for a few days. Tom: You said a mouthful. Be- lieve me, it’s a real handicap to know that some one is standing over you with a club all day long, watching every move you make, Joe: I'll tell the world it is. All you and I need is a free hand and let me tell you things would hum around this office. Tom: Nothing different. Give a couple of good men like you and me responsibility and things are done right. Jor: It’s a fact. Watch my smoke on this Bliffkins correspondence, if you wanta see some unbridled exec- r action, : Atta boy! You take care of the Bliffkins matter and I'll clear up the Tompkins mess that's been “So you want a job in the Mint, “T've had only two girls walk home on me.” “What did the rest do?” “Ran!” hanging fire around here for lack of a decision. Jor: Go get ’em, kid, and then we'll have lunch together. Tom: O. K. with me. Then we'll come back and tear into things again this afternoon. Jor: Righto, only we ought to eh? What salary would suit you?” “Well, I'd be willing to pay about fifteen dollars a day.” walk around a bit first and get some fresh air. Nothing like pepping up a bit before a long afternoon of of- fice routine. Tom: Yes, we could take a walk or we might drop into a vaudeville show for a couple of acts, just to relax a bit. Jor: That’s a darn good sug- gestion. There’s a peach of a bill on at the Palace this afternoon, too. Tom: Yes, I've heard about it. Still, if we go there it might be too much of a temptation to stay for the whole show. Jor: Well, what's the difference? The boss is out of town, isn’t he? James L. Dilley. The Desert Mariner THE dragon ships the purple oceans plow! (Hot dog! That’s sure a dandy line to start.) The spurling spume sprays spang against the prow! (I'm not so sure about that spur- ling part.) The silken sails — the gulls that sweep the blue! (Oh, boy! I'll bet my readers smell the sea.) And hard alee the drifting caribou! (Now where in heck would you call hard alee?) O ivory masts! O drenching tropic rain! (That last remark exhausts my ocean lore. You go ahead and sail the bounding main; Tl just roll up my pants and wade ashore.) Carey Holbrook. comicbooks.com