Executive
08-03-2005, 07:11 PM
An unemployed man is desperate to support his family
of a wife and three kids. He applies for a janitor's
job at a large firm and easily passes an aptitude
test. The human resources manager tells him, "You
will be hired at minimum wage of $5.35 an hour. Let me
have your e-mail address so that we can get you in the
loop. Our system will automatically e-mail you all the
forms and advise you when to start and where to report
on your first day."
Taken back, the man protests that he is poor and has
neither a computer nor an e-mail address.
To this the manager replies, "You must understand that
to a company like ours that means that you virtually
do not exist. Without an e-mail address you can hardly
expect to be employed by a high-tech firm. Good day."
Stunned, the man leaves.
Not knowing where to turn and having $10 in his
wallet, he walks past a farmers' market and sees a
stand selling 25 lb. crates of beautiful red tomatoes.
He buys a crate, carries it to a busy corner and
displays the tomatoes. In less than 2 hours he sells
all the tomatoes and makes 100% profit. Repeating the
process several times more that day, he ends up with
almost $100 and arrives home that night with several
bags of groceries for his family.
During the night he decides to repeat the tomato
business the next day. By the end of the week he is
getting up early every day and working into the
night. He multiplies his profits quickly.
Early in the second week he acquires a cart to
transport several boxes of tomatoes at a time, but
before a month is up he sells the cart to buy a
broken-down pickup truck.
At the end of a year he owns three old trucks. His two
sons have left their neighborhood gangs to help him
with the tomato business, his wife is buying the
tomatoes, and his daughter is taking night courses at
the community college so she can keep books for him.
By the end of the second year he has a dozen very nice
used trucks and employs fifteen previously unemployed
people, all selling tomatoes.
He continues to work hard.
Time passes and at the end of the fifth year he owns a
fleet of nice trucks and a warehouse that his wife
supervises, plus two tomato farms that the boys
manage. The tomato company's payroll has put hundreds
of homeless and jobless people to work. His daughter
reports that the business grossed a million dollars.
Planning for the future, he decides to buy some life
insurance. Consulting with an insurance adviser, he
picks an insurance plan to fit his new circumstances.
Then the adviser asks him for his e-mail address in
order to send the final documents electronically.
When the man replies that he doesn't have time to mess
with a computer and has no e-mail address, the
insurance man is stunned, "What, you don't have
e-mail? No computer? No Internet? Just think where you
would be today if you'd had all of that five years
ago!"
"Ha!" snorts the man. "If I'd had e-mail five years
ago I would be sweeping floors at Microsoft and making
$5.35 an hour."
Which brings us to the moral of the story: Since you
got this story by e-mail, you're probably closer to
being a janitor than a millionaire.
of a wife and three kids. He applies for a janitor's
job at a large firm and easily passes an aptitude
test. The human resources manager tells him, "You
will be hired at minimum wage of $5.35 an hour. Let me
have your e-mail address so that we can get you in the
loop. Our system will automatically e-mail you all the
forms and advise you when to start and where to report
on your first day."
Taken back, the man protests that he is poor and has
neither a computer nor an e-mail address.
To this the manager replies, "You must understand that
to a company like ours that means that you virtually
do not exist. Without an e-mail address you can hardly
expect to be employed by a high-tech firm. Good day."
Stunned, the man leaves.
Not knowing where to turn and having $10 in his
wallet, he walks past a farmers' market and sees a
stand selling 25 lb. crates of beautiful red tomatoes.
He buys a crate, carries it to a busy corner and
displays the tomatoes. In less than 2 hours he sells
all the tomatoes and makes 100% profit. Repeating the
process several times more that day, he ends up with
almost $100 and arrives home that night with several
bags of groceries for his family.
During the night he decides to repeat the tomato
business the next day. By the end of the week he is
getting up early every day and working into the
night. He multiplies his profits quickly.
Early in the second week he acquires a cart to
transport several boxes of tomatoes at a time, but
before a month is up he sells the cart to buy a
broken-down pickup truck.
At the end of a year he owns three old trucks. His two
sons have left their neighborhood gangs to help him
with the tomato business, his wife is buying the
tomatoes, and his daughter is taking night courses at
the community college so she can keep books for him.
By the end of the second year he has a dozen very nice
used trucks and employs fifteen previously unemployed
people, all selling tomatoes.
He continues to work hard.
Time passes and at the end of the fifth year he owns a
fleet of nice trucks and a warehouse that his wife
supervises, plus two tomato farms that the boys
manage. The tomato company's payroll has put hundreds
of homeless and jobless people to work. His daughter
reports that the business grossed a million dollars.
Planning for the future, he decides to buy some life
insurance. Consulting with an insurance adviser, he
picks an insurance plan to fit his new circumstances.
Then the adviser asks him for his e-mail address in
order to send the final documents electronically.
When the man replies that he doesn't have time to mess
with a computer and has no e-mail address, the
insurance man is stunned, "What, you don't have
e-mail? No computer? No Internet? Just think where you
would be today if you'd had all of that five years
ago!"
"Ha!" snorts the man. "If I'd had e-mail five years
ago I would be sweeping floors at Microsoft and making
$5.35 an hour."
Which brings us to the moral of the story: Since you
got this story by e-mail, you're probably closer to
being a janitor than a millionaire.