The Herman Miller Aeron Chair is perhaps one of the greatest pieces of office furniture ever created. At approximately $800 per chair, this ergonomic wonder is not destined for every cubicle, corner office, or board room. In the days of prosperous dot-coms, I had the privilege to ensconce upon the Aeron’s meshed seat in my own international management consulting firm’s offices and in the rare client office. Most fiscally conscientious companies could not, even in those days, justify the cost of acquiring such furniture for all its employees. Even today, the Aeron’s price is relatively unchanged since that epoch and, as a consequence, I rarely see an Aeron but in the most successful of company or firm offices.

Let’s fast forward to 2008 and the new LAC+USC Hospital. A few months ago, I found myself wandering the empty lobby of the new facility and, much to my surprise, found piles of new Aeron chairs stacked upon each other. Today, if you visit this new $1 billion investment into the surrounding community, you will see security guards sitting around on Aeron chairs next to airport-like security gates and metal detectors. And, if you head up to the IT department, you will see new Aeron chairs underneath the rump of every office worker. I have not yet made it to the clinics and actual hospital floors, but I have no doubt that you will find the Aeron as part of those furnishings as well.

I find this absolutely incredible. This county is one that cries year after year for more money — tax payer money — to provide health care to its ever growing populace of itinerant, indigent, and illegals. Year after year, politicians and government officials speak of deficits and concerns over future funding. And, hark. These same people decide to squander our taxes on $800 chairs for a new county facility. In fact, I would assume a higher cost per chair as the government always manages to pay twice as much for a hammer. Let’s do a simple experiment and say that the facility only has ten floors with fifty chairs required per floor (a gross under estimate by far). The total amount spent on chairs for 500 chairs is likely a $400,000 minimum. Certainly, Los Angeles County must have bought plenty for there to be spares for security guards.

Does anyone else think that this is outrageous? Does anyone else think that this money could have been better spent elsewhere? The same bureaucrats who decided to pamper their asses with our tax money certainly didn’t give enough thought to more essential things like call rooms. And, let’s not even begin to speak of the cost to develop, implement, and maintain the robots they’re planning on introducing to move things around in the hospital.

What really incenses me is that bureaucrats waste public funds in this manner and have the audacity to ask for more.