Two men hired to chop wood were paid for the combined volume of wood chopped in one day. The two men went to work and the first man became concerned when he saw the second man sitting on a stump rocking back and forth with his axe in his lap. “That slacker”, thought the first man, “I’m not going to work while he sits and rocks on that stump.”
As the day wore on the second man stopped working whenever the first man sat down on the stump and this he did often.
At sunset the first man walked over to the second man and said, “I chopped when you chopped and rested when you rested. If you had not rested so much we would get more pay!” Than the first man saw the mountain of chopped wood piled behind the second man. The second man seeing the puzzled look on the first man’s face and said, “I rested often as my axe needed sharpening.”
Looking at the first man’s axe the second man said, “If you had sharpened your axe as we rested, you would not be working the night shift.”
Read more articles by SAMUEL TUCKER or search for articles on the same topic or others.
