Engineer to the Rescue :-)

[Zak33]

David told me this earlier, and frankly....it covers everything

There was an engineer who had an exceptional gift for fixing all things mechanical. After serving his company loyally for over 30 years, he happily retired. Several years later the company contacted him regarding a seemingly impossible problem they were having with one of their multi-million dollar machines.

They had tried everything and everyone else to get the machine to work but to no avail. In desperation, they called on the retired engineer who has solved so many of their problems in the past.

The engineer reluctantly took the challenge. He spent a day studying the huge machine. At the end of the day, he marked a small “x” in chalk on a particular component of the machine and stated, “This is where your problem is”. The part was replaced and the machine worked perfectly again. The company received a bill for $50,000 from the engineer for this service. They demanded an itemized accounting of his charges.

The engineer responded briefly:

* One chalk mark $1
* Knowing where to put it $49,999

It was paid in full and the engineer retired again in peace.

I think that, 2008 will become the year that people stop trying to save every penny, and start spending a little bit more to get the right stuff

[Anders]

Good story. I love your positive attitude, but if the economy turns downwards, 2008 will be the year companies try to squeeze a little bit more from fewer employees.

[chicken]

The problem is they haven't been saving every penny though. A huge amount of people have been spending money they don't have and now it's starting to catch up on us.

[MadduckUK]

taking one last wedge off the people who had kept me employed for 30 years - priceless?

[Oobie-]

I too thought that would be a mastercard advert madduck