The black book

This small but immensely thick volume contains the records of indiscretions by staff working for the London and Provincial Bank at the end of the 19th century. At the front of the volume, it has been written 'This book is a mirror in which Managers may see how bad they are and how good they ought to be.' The extracts selected here include a manager wearing slippers to work, two clerks fighting in the branch, a manager disappearing for a day's fishing, and a manager losing the strongroom key.