Work
Work
[A table is shown with a glass of water to the left and a lamp standard type desk lamp on the right. There are nine labels in relation to different parts of these three items. For each label, one or two arrows points to the relevant part. Five labels are written above the table, two on the table and two below the table between the front legs. These last two labels are causing the table legs to the rear to disappear, and also cuts the lamp cord, going beneath the table, in two. Below each label will be written under a description of what they point to going in normal reading order from left to right, two lines above, one line on and one line below the table.]
[Arrow points a line that follow the curve of the lamps shade:] An engineer worked late drawing this curve in AutoCAD
[Arrow points to back of lamp shade just above the stem. The shade has four visible vents on the front. The part the arrow points to is not visible:] Extra vents added to avoid California safety recall
[Arrow points to glass:] Years-long negotiation with glass supplier
[A double arrow is placed above the center of the glass, ending on two lines above the edges of the glass:] 4 hours of meetings
[Two arrow points on either side of the lamp's stem:] 9 hours of meetings
[Two arrow, one pointing up at the bottom and the other down at the inside bottom of the glass:] Months of tip-over testing
[An arrow points to the lamp information sticker on the bottom part of the lamps base. Unreadable text can be seen as thins lines on the sticker:] Ongoing debate
[An arrow points to the front edge of the desk, ending in a starburst on the edge:] Wood source changed due to 20 year legal fight over logging in the Great Bear rainforest
[Arrow points to the switch on the lamps cord which can be seen going over the right edge of the table and hanging down below the table. The switch can be seen just under the table edge:] Argument over putting switch on cord got someone fired
[Caption under the panel:] Sometimes I get overwhelmed thinking about the amount of work that went into the ordinary objects around me.

This comic details a set of theoretical examples of how much work went into the design and manufacture of everyday objects. See explanation of individual design elements below.
The joke centers around the fact that most people in modern times are constantly surrounded with human-built objects, which we generally use without giving them much thought. Randall implies that he occasionally imagines what went into seemingly simple objects around him (in this case his desk and the water glass and the desk lamp on top of it), and finds it overwhelming. This is because there are so many built items around us, many of which are inexpensive and mass-produced, which nonetheless resulted from a great deal of human effort.
This is similar to the thesis of the classic essay I, Pencil , except that while I, Pencil idealizes manufacture and commerce to argue for the free market and against regulation, the comic focuses on details that are far more human or based in bureaucratic or government red tape.
Presumably, this kind of realization is more likely for people who've worked in design and engineering, like Randall, because they have some insight into what's involved in bringing a product to market. Also people who sit around all day wondering what could be funny, like Randall, could also end up in such a thought spiral. The comment about California recalls is based on the tags on products that often state "This item has been known by the state of California to cause..."
There's a double joke in the title as the first thing most people will think of, when seeing such a table with a typical desk lamp, is that this is a work desk rather than about all the work put into making the desk and lamp. The potential implication is that Randall is so distracted imagining the work that went into creating his workspace that he can't get his own work done, hence the title. (Interestingly, but without being related to this comic, the next comic was called 1742: Will It Work ).
The argument over putting the switch on the cord getting someone fired hits on another aspect of the design issue. Companies that design and manufacture goods will inevitably have human conflicts, where decisions will be argued over, and human personalities and office politics will impact the final design.
In the title text Randall states that this incidence is imaginary (based on his imagination) but still he has apparently come up with an entire fictional narrative about the conflict over whether to put the lamp's switch on the lamp body itself, or to attach it to the lamp's power cord. And now he has SUCH a strong opinion about the firing incident.
This may be because he already had a strong opinion about who was right, which could make him angry if that person was the one getting fired. Randall's distaste for lamps where the switch is on the cord was mentioned in the title text of 1036: Reviews . As the lamp on this desk is with the switch on the cord, and as it seems Randall really dislikes such lamps, this would make sense, as it would probably be the one wishing to put the switch on the body who were fired. Alternatively it could have been the one who put the switch on the wire that was fired later, when they got poor on-line reviews...
Using the lamp as shown on this desk would make it annoying with the switch on the cord, as it will be hard to reach under the table, when sitting at the desk. Often such lamps have the switch either at the main body or on the head of the lamp. That would make it easy to reach it while sitting at the desk.
A similar theme of the unseen contributions of engineers is found in 277: Long Light , including the title text: "You can look at practically any part of anything manmade around you and think 'some engineer was frustrated while designing this.' It's a little human connection." This fits in well with Randall's annoyance with a switch on the cord, as he might believe it was a frustrated engineer that is the cause of such an inconvenient placement of the switch.
[A table is shown with a glass of water to the left and a lamp standard type desk lamp on the right. There are nine labels in relation to different parts of these three items. For each label, one or two arrows points to the relevant part. Five labels are written above the table, two on the table and two below the table between the front legs. These last two labels are causing the table legs to the rear to disappear, and also cuts the lamp cord, going beneath the table, in two. Below each label will be written under a description of what they point to going in normal reading order from left to right, two lines above, one line on and one line below the table.]
[Arrow points a line that follow the curve of the lamps shade:] An engineer worked late drawing this curve in AutoCAD
[Arrow points to back of lamp shade just above the stem. The shade has four visible vents on the front. The part the arrow points to is not visible:] Extra vents added to avoid California safety recall
[Arrow points to glass:] Years-long negotiation with glass supplier
[A double arrow is placed above the center of the glass, ending on two lines above the edges of the glass:] 4 hours of meetings
[Two arrow points on either side of the lamp's stem:] 9 hours of meetings
[Two arrow, one pointing up at the bottom and the other down at the inside bottom of the glass:] Months of tip-over testing
[An arrow points to the lamp information sticker on the bottom part of the lamps base. Unreadable text can be seen as thins lines on the sticker:] Ongoing debate
[An arrow points to the front edge of the desk, ending in a starburst on the edge:] Wood source changed due to 20 year legal fight over logging in the Great Bear rainforest
[Arrow points to the switch on the lamps cord which can be seen going over the right edge of the table and hanging down below the table. The switch can be seen just under the table edge:] Argument over putting switch on cord got someone fired
[Caption under the panel:] Sometimes I get overwhelmed thinking about the amount of work that went into the ordinary objects around me.
