Teresa Burns Parkhurst has drawn a merry-go-round, but not one where kids ride animals mounted on posts. Instead, office workers sit at desks, typing on computer keyboards and looking at their monitors. One of these employees is talking on her phone and delivering the line that will serve as the cartoon’s caption.
I first focused on the contrast between work (as represented by the office drones) and play (as represented by the carousel):
- “Management can take the fun out of anything.”
- “Not as fun as you might imagine.”
I then suggested that spinning around all day would be counter-productive or even nauseating:
- “The work used to be mind-numbing, but now it’s nauseating.”
- “At least we’re not going up and down.”
Finally, I came up with a couple of puns:
- “No one has a corner office.”
- “It’s a workaround.”
Now let’s see how you did:
There were a lot of puns, and many were pretty good:
- “Remember to check for rounding errors.”
- “Circulation Department…’
- “We’re located in the office park.”
- “I didn’t like this job at first, but I came around.”
- “I’m not too happy with my office’s latest workaround.”
- “We have a quick turnaround time.”
- “Let me circle back to you on that.”
- “We take calls on a rotating basis.”
- “I’m just hoping to grab the brass ring someday.”
- “We couldn’t decide who would get the corner office.”
- “We spun off that division years ago.”
- “You don’t want to be here when we Zoom.”
That last caption doubles as the week’s best pandemic-related entry.
These two entries note that carousel riders must disembark when the ride ends:
- “I get off in 2½ minutes.”
- “I get off in an hour.”
Several of you focused on the fact that the workers are not getting anywhere, literally or metaphorically:
- “I just don’t feel like I’m getting anywhere.”
- “It’s fun, but this firm isn’t going anywhere.”
- ‘I feel like I can never get ahead.”
- “This job is going nowhere.”
- “We don’t seem to be making any progress.”
- “I don’t know what it is. We work all day but we never get anywhere.”
The first sentence in that last caption is unnecessary.
Like I did, a few of you noted that spinning around all day would be unsettling:
- “This job can be nauseating.”
- “This job makes me sick.”
- “I’d like to refill my Dramamine prescription.”
- “I think I’m gonna skip lunch today.”
I like that last entry except for the word “gonna.” Though it does capture the way people, including myself, actually speak, I hate seeing that word in a caption. I’m not sure why.
The next three captions note that a merry-go-round is just part of a carnival that has many attractions:
- “The cafeteria only serves cotton candy.”
- “Do you want me to pick up corn dogs for dinner?”
- “It could be worse. Accounting is on the roller coaster.”
Like I did, a couple of you noted that the rides on this carousel are not mounted on poles:
- “Things are easier now that the desks don’t go up and down.”
- “At least the desks don’t go up and down.”
As usual, I’ll end with a few terrific captions that don’t fit neatly into any category:
- “What about now? Can you hear me now?”
- “The job’s OK, but the music is driving me crazy.”
- “I think I’ve found the balance between work and play.”
This week’s winner is, “Let me circle back to you on that.”
ENTER THIS WEEK’S CAPTION CONTEST
Lawrence Wood has won The New Yorker’s Cartoon Caption Contest a record-setting seven times and been a finalist four other times. He has collaborated with New Yorker cartoonists Peter Kuper, Lila Ash, Felipe Galindo Gomez, and Harry Bliss (until Bliss tossed him aside, as anyone would, to collaborate with Steve Martin). Nine of his collaborations have appeared in The New Yorker, and one is included in The New Yorker Encyclopedia of Cartoons.