Beauty is truly in the eye of the beholder. This chair, which doesn’t look too tattered or worn, won Tri-State Business Systems’ recent “ugly chair” contest. It had been used by Cook County Schools librarian Shelby Anderson for many years. She now enjoys the new high-tech office chair the school received as a prize for winning the contest.
Tri-State Business Systems of Superior recently held an ugly chair contest – and the chair used by Cook County Schools librarian Shelby Anderson won! The school received a new, stateof the-art office chair as a prize, and it got to keep its ugly chair.
“I’ve been here close to 20 years,” Anderson told the Cook
County News-Herald.
“When I first came, the chair belonged to [former Sawtooth Elementary fifth grade teacher] Ken Sheils. …I believe he had used the chair for many years already and decided to give it a second life with some fancy reupholstery!
“…When the facility [remodeling and expansion] project was completed in 1998, the chair ended up in the library/ computer areas. It’s been shuffled around as needed.
“…The school secretaries sent out a little blurb about the Tri-State contest. I read everything and immediately thought of that chair.”
Tri-State notified Kathleen Johnson in the district office that Anderson had won the contest. “I know Kathleen Johnson was quite puzzled when she called, wondering what on earth I had done!” Anderson said. “I sent her the picture and she didn’t think it was that ugly. However, when the Tri-State rep came with the new chair and I wheeled the old one down for pictures, she definitely agreed with the assessment.
“…The new chair is fantastic. One needs a manual for all the adjustable ergonomic features! I looked it up on the Internet: It’s an OfficeMaster web-backed task chair with pneumatic lift, EZ back height adjustment, infinitely locking seat tilt, infinitely locking back tilt, mesh back, seat slider plus
height and width adjustable T arms with natural grip control and Memosoft arm pads, an adjustable height range of 2.75” and an adjustable width range of approximately 1” per side.
“Online the chair was $383 and the adjustable arms were an additional $135! [An] over $500 value for just sending in a picture!!
“…Basically library work is all done on computer, so I’m at my computer most of the day. It’s great!
I’m going to have to figure out how to guard it over the summer so it doesn’t disappear. I don’t think the school throws anything away. The ugly chair now has found a home at the Sawtooth Elementary Computer Lab desk! I haven’t heard if they’re thankful for the addition or not. …Nothing ventured, nothing gained.”
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