The Ergonomic Downfall

The most important betrayal of structure in the current office environment occurred on a particularly wet Monday afternoon, during which time a highly competent and experienced 26-year-old financial auditor named Chloe attempted to adjust her newly acquired, ergonomic mesh chair using just a simple plastic lever.

This individual had two professional qualifications in corporate risk assessment, but right now, she found herself locked into a sweaty struggle with a lever mechanism that seemed to present such strong resistance that it might as well have been an industrial car jack. She was just attempting to raise her seat two inches so that it would fit under her double monitor screens.

With all determination, Chloe exerted a delicate vertical force on the lever, pushing herself slightly forward. But the pneumatics system offered resistance to her for an excruciating period of three seconds before succumbing to a sharp, sputtering WHOOSH sound. The gravitational reaction to this event proved to be phenomenal in that the chair descended to its very lowest position, crushing her knees against the wooden surface of her desk, thereby trapping her professional lanyard under the keyboard. Although she did not achieve proper ergonomics with due corporate decorum, she succeeded brilliantly in analyzing a million-dollar spreadsheet by seating herself at exactly the eye level of the waste basket.