Sunday, September 25, 2016
What's wrong with this picture?
Kansas State Hist Soc hasn't put up any interesting stuff for a while. Today they added a picture that BOTHERS me in terms of jobs and skills. This is the Greeley County Treasurer in 1920.
What's wrong with this picture? Everything!
The safe is open, ledgers are randomly scattered around, the desk needs varnish, there's no evidence of a system (in-boxes, out-boxes, WIP boxes) and the lights clearly aren't placed to illuminate work. The walls have a few cartoons and slogans but no tax tables or property maps.
I'm LIGHT YEARS AWAY from a compulsive neatnik, but if I were being PAID to run an accounting office, I'd organize it. Make it look like some ACCOUNTING is possible, and then DO some accounting.
The treasurer himself has the same Gypsyish out-of-square look as the office. Straw hat but no coat, slouching at the desk like he's not sure what a desk is for. Probably true.
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Update a few months later.... KSHS has published a picture of the Greeley County CLERK's office from about the same period. This picture, though seemingly taken for a Christmas observance, is the exact opposite of the Treasurer. Everything is ordered for work, the walls are occupied with meaningful maps and pictures, the clerk himself looks alert and ready for action.
Labels: skill-estate
¶ 3:10 PM
