The Case of Mercy Hospital and the Brown Belt

I sat in class today and I just didn’t understand. The professor lectured, “Mercy Hospital is a large, multi-service, religious affiliated, non-profit private hospital….” There was something about his clothes. We were reviewing a human resource case study. “In 2007, the hospital’s total expenditures were projected to be $30,000,000 and 5% of that was devoted to nursing services….” I understood him wearing a wrinkle-free white collared dress shirt under a twill two-button blazer. “The hospital needed a cost saving strategy. Over the past five years staffing patterns had changed to utilize more nursing aides….” I even understood him wearing the olive green tie with a pattern of flowers. “Turnover had been fairly constant.…” What I didn’t understand was why he looped his blue corduroy pants with a brown belt when he had on black shoes. “Blah, blah, blah…” Clearly, no one had told him the rule – when you wear black shoes put on a black belt. So that your students can focus.