PROFESSIONAL HUMOUR.

Press, Volume LX, Issue 18073, 15 May 1924, Page 4

PROFESSIONAL HUMOUR.

A QUESTION OF DIGNITY.

There is not much humour in the business world of to-day (says a writer in a British building journal). The master, the clerk, and the mechanic sre full of their own difficulties, and think too seriously of them ever to see any humour in their perplexities. It would be better if, as a.nation, we could develop our sense of the grotesquo, as it would break the strain of comm'er'cial life. Humorous people are invariably opjiniists, although it cannot be said that the converse is also true". Truo humour is that senso by which we perceive the absurdity of things, and it is better to relieve our feelings by a burst of ~ huightor than to mourn over, the perversity of things in general and continuously complain. "" But we are now wandering from the building trade, where of all known occupations we most need to develop a sense of humour. What a trade it is for gloomy people! Pessimism seems rampant. Builders, surveyors, and | architects are mostly gloomy. They look serious at all times. If they have i no. worries, they still cherish the stern [face. An excess of work is as profitable a source of worry as a lean time, and if by any chance one of these men -hit the- happy mean and had that quantity pf business he desired, he would at, once seek-ft' less fortunate friend and condole with him. .Suppose, now,-we try and break away from our invariable custom of looking sad and downcast. We will try to cultivate and smile, to relax - our overworked brains, and to sec more of the fun and frolic of life. The process, must be' a gradual one. Stiffened as we are by worry and bowed down by anxiety, the unbending must be done with just the same care and moderation as a convalescent rheumatic patient. • To laugh outright as a Mark Twain would be inviting unfavourable comment from our friends and some alarm from our neighbours, while to behave as a Mark Tapley- -would be to challenge our business judgment or to invite the Inland Revenfle authorities to increase our assessment. '' But a gradual process might be al ; lowed which would comply with all the established customs of convention. ■ This would, of course, vary with the status of concerued. Overindulgence of the one might be conas a tamo effort on the part of ! another, while the jocularity of a third I would be, classed as a vulgar exhibition of unrestrained laughter.

Tho Architect, Let us consider the architect, The dignity of professional etiquette still enshrouds his office. - He. has been articled in hia. youth; he- ha*, studied architecture from his teens; and his knowledge of the Greek and Latin orders is profound. His office is neatly decorated with detail drawings of a local abbey, and several churches loom large in perspective. All probably pre-war, but none the worse for that. His dignity has. not been compromised by accepting a housing schomo, and he still draws, a fee and gives professional advice upon such questions as scullery sinks. Can we imagine him smiling 1 ■ Would he ever admit a joke? We doubt it—at any rate, not in the business day. It is just possible that on receiving' a builder's account, say for a garage, which was somewhat exaggerated he might call in his assistant and in a. professional way, but with a suggestion of levity, remark: "That's a fine product of Messrs B. and C. I can seethem'getting it." He might smile, but the chances are against it. Of course, his assistant would struggle hard between his efforts to maintain the dignity of the office while acknowledging the ready wit of his superior. It would be advisable/for him to smile and to smile-audibly, but it should be like a lightning flash in the dark.. A brief response, a moment's glee, and the iambre stateliness of an architectural' office would again prevail. Do such incidents happen! We think so, at rare intervals; but it is merely conjecture, and we have never seen it. .. But are surveyors a happier group? Dock the same professional atmosphere enshroud their offices! Some think it may, and others (mostly travellers) presume that it does. But one does not usually receive such a .chilling reception from a really good surveyor. If he has a .professional side he has also a modern business, nature. He may like to claim nn ancestry in the far-away dim ages when the great buildings of our chief cathedrals were erected and when the giants of the architectural profession stalked the earth. If he does claim -it. he knows also that his profession is quite modern, and that he supplies what the architect usually lacks—namely, "the ability to deal m figures and to adjust accounts:. Thereforo, with uncertain professional origin, a surveyor is really a more modern product and less likely to be bound by professional etiquette. He would certainly unbend more freely than his colleague the architect. He might express himself in his clerks' "office without restraint, but it should be brief and definite. He might, for instance, receive an architect's specification which exhausts itself oh general clauses and threatens all kinds of divers perils' without giving the necessary information about the materials of the building or ftie method of its construction. There might be references to windows under the heading of "Carpenter" in which the reader is referred to the "Smith" (for steel easements, presumably), but on looking there the reference would' turn back again to the carpenter.

The Surveyor. The surveyor might laugh at this product. He eould call his assistant, or, better still, walk into the outer office and audibly express himself as .. follows: "A beautiful specification!* full of pains and penalties and without any useful information. Just look at this, for example!" The document might be passed round and a general smile be expressed, with one or two'professional repartees, lasting over some five minutes, and then all would resume their normal routine. The business «ide of a surveyor'B office makes it impossible for the 3ombre statcliness of an architectural sanctum to continually prevail. Much as some would cherish this odour of 3anctity and cultivate the 'pleasant leisureliness of the architectural profession, the celestial atmosphere becomes instantly changed When, in discussing (Continued at foot of next column.) j

an account with an irate .builder, the surveyor asks him the price of a common brick and the value of a barrOw of mortar. But the builder? May he indulge in a little Jmmourf We think he may, for to him it' is reserved (as many other things in the building taade are also reserved, including all the risks a surveyor fearß or an architect cannot solve), it ia reserved, we say, to enjoy a good laugh. „He lives in a world of reality, with its ups and downs, whereas an architect ;mostly inhabits a world of visions from which he occasionally stoops to draw his iees. The bolder eats, sleeps, and makes mercy with his friends (sometimes in. the Bankruptcy Court, we were going'to add!), while the architect, after a short day in his sanctum, has his late dinner and regales himself with art and pictures. Yes, the builder may laugh, for he sees much of the hollowness of professional life. True dignity needs no ficial help for its maintenance. The man should dignify the office and grace his profession, but it 'frequently happens that the office has to dignify the man and the profession has to lend it all the support available. The builder laughs, but he cannot grow fat, for the fat \& carefully regulated by the two professions indicated above. But still he laughs at times, and probably gets more out of his precarious career than either tho architect or the surveyor with their more assured income.