An opportunity for Mr. Bristow
to catch up on the latest news
C-Ps has manually operated lifts and consequently employs a liftboy whose job is to press the buttons and work the gates. The liftboy is extremely well informed on internal company affairs and will often communicate these via graffiti on the lift walls. He is also the first to know any sporting news. ("That was the news here on British Hi-Speed Radio. Now a summary of the day’s sports results direct from the walls of the lift at the Chester-Perry Building"). The job is jealously guarded and school-leavers that are left in the liftboy’s tender care are likely to be tearfully running back to Mother before the end of the day.
The liftboy, unlike the post boy, has no ambitions for a desk job. As he puts it "Working at a desk would drive me up the wall". He is of course always up to date with latest fashions and the generation gap is never wider than when Bristow is trying to convince him to come to the Xmas Dinner & Dance strip 3956.
Bristow is always keen to take the lift. With luck, it will break down and he can spend a quiet afternoon with the perfect excuse not to do any work. One wonders why C-Ps does not install automatic lifts - they must be the last company in the UK to employ a lift boy.