Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau for August 22, 1982

Transcript:

Man: Man....this is tough on the back....at least I've got my self-respect! Lacey: You certainly are here late tonight, young man, you must be the new janitor. Man: Yes I am, congresswoman. My name's Henry. Lacey: Well, it's nice to have you with us, Henry, forgive my presumptiousness, but you don't look like most of our janitors. Man: Well, I'm still new at it, ma'am. A week ago, I was a lawyer. Lacey: Oh, dear. A mid-career crisis? Man: Yes, ma'am. 14 years ago I went right from law school to the firm handling the IBM anti-trust suit. Since them, my career has consisted of caollating million of pages of testimony. A few months ago, the suit was thrown out of court. I suddenly realized I had spent my entire adult life working on a moot case with no conceivable benefit to society other than enriching an army of lawyers. I figured it was time for some honest labor. I was right. In the last week, I've done more socially useful work than I did in the previous 14 years! God, it feels good! Lacey: How...how inspirational! Young man, would you mind if I put your story in the congressional record? Man: Gosh...would you, ma'am? If I could help just one other lawyer, it'd be worth the shave.