True Story:
Years ago, I worked at a small electronics manufacturing firm. Small is an overstatement - there was only five of us pulling together to keep the business afloat. We all pitched in to get done whatever needed to be done.
Not having the equipment to make our own boards, we would send boxes of circuit boards and parts to a firm that would assemble our product. It was important to document the exact quantity of parts we shipped them, `cause they would assume the kit contained adequate parts for the build. Shortages caused delays we couldn't afford.
One day I was putting together one of these kits, but it was getting dangerously close to shipping time (when the UPS guy would arrive). I had to get this kit shipped that day! Three of the other employees were busy boxing up orders to meet the same deadline, so I asked the fifth employee for help.
She was our newest employee, hired just weeks before. Fresh out of Junior College, and this was her first job. Whoever coined the phrase `sweet young thing' must have met her.
After we counted all the bigger parts like connectors and chips and boards, we needed to count the resistors and capacitors. These parts are bought in reels of 3 to 5 thousand, held together by thin strips of tape. The resistors are spaced 5 to an inch, so I'd roll out the reel on the floor, and use a tape measure to get the correct number of parts.
Well, this day, I couldn't find the tape measure! After we searched the office for five or ten minutes, I was afraid we would have to count these by hand. She had a better idea:
"Well, just how many of these do we need?", she asked.
I looked at the parts list and answered, "900, or fifteen feet".
She thought for a few seconds and said:
"I'm exactly five feet tall, so just lay me down and do me three times". |
