Remember that lesson we all learned in elementary school? The teacher gave us a test and the first instruction was to completely read the entire test before completing any of the questions. Remarkably, most people ignored that and slowly made their way down the test. However, there were always a couple of people who, two minutes into the test, wrote their names on their papers, turned them in to the teacher, and went outside to play. As it turns out, the last instruction on the list, at the very bottom of the page, was “Don’t complete any of the other questions. Put your name on this paper, give it to your teacher, and go on outside and enjoy your playtime. ” The lesson teachers were trying to teach us was to always follow instructions exactly. And the first instruction was to read the entire test first. So those who paid attention got to play for longer, and those who didn’t follow instructions wasted a lot of time. The man in the joke below would have been well-advised to pay attention to what his client told him to do.
Laura’s dishwasher quit working so she called a repairman. Since she had to go to work the next day, she told the repairman, “I’ll leave the key under the mat. Fix the dishwasher, leave the bill on the counter, and I’ll mail you a check.
“Oh, by the way, don’t worry about my bulldog, Bob. He won’t bother you. But, whatever you do, do NOT, under ANY circumstances, talk to my parrot! I repeat, do not talk to my parrot!”
When the repairman arrived at Laura’s apartment the following day, he discovered the biggest, meanest looking bulldog he has ever seen. But, just as she had said, the dog just lay there on the carpet watching the repairman go about his work.
The parrot, however, drove him nuts the whole time with his incessant yelling, cursing, and name-calling. Finally, the repairman couldn’t contain himself any longer and yelled, “Shut up you stupid, ugly bird!”
To which the parrot replied, “Get him, Bob!”
