I went to a high street retailer at lunch time. Not for work, for pleasure - if buying socks for your daughter can be described as pleasure.

Off the side of the stair well on the first floor of the shop is an office (apologies if this sounds like a hackneyed plot to an adventure story). The office is closed to the public, but a window to the outside world shows all-comers the contents of the room.

And in the room is a whiteboard that describes in detail how much money the shop made from sales last week. Nice lack of security, I thought - and certainly an interesting read. But why the openness? Here are some possibilities:

1. The retailer wants its customers to know how much they are spending/wasting
2. The retailer is attempting to regularly remind employees about how much they should be making
3. The retailer is trying to boast to rivals about how much money it is making
4. The retailer is thoughtless

Further reading

• 'The Apprentice' + Aston Business School = hype
• Men like women in short skirts, says research
• "Glamorous" PR tarred with IT nerd brush
• Be proud of being a technology nerd
• IT skills crisis not solved via death by Powerpoint

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Want to contact the writer? Email Mark Samuels