Wednesday, September 03, 2008

Might work

Handling teens

A wise old gentleman retired and purchased a modest home near a junior high school. He spent the first few weeks of his retirement in peace and contentment. Then a new school year began. The very next afternoon three young boys, full of youthful, after-school enthusiasm, came down his street, beating merrily on every trash can they encountered. The crashing percussion continued day after day, until finally the wise old man decided it was time to take some action.

The next afternoon, he walked out to meet the young percussionists as they banged their way down the street. Stopping them, he said, "You kids are a lot of fun. I like to see you express your exuberance like that. In fact, I used to do the same thing when I was your age. Will you do me a favor? I'll give you each a dollar if you'll promise to come around every day and do your thing." The kids were elated and continued to do a bang-up job on the trash cans.

After a few days, the old-timer greeted the kids again, but this time he had a sad smile on his face.

"This recession's really putting a big dent in my income," he told them. "From now on, I'll only be able to pay you 50 cents to beat on the cans."

The noisemakers were obviously displeased, but they did accept his offer and continued their afternoon ruckus. A few days later, the wily retiree approached them again as they drummed their way down the street.

"Look," he said, "I haven't received my Social Security check yet, so I'm not going to be able to give you more than 25 cents. Will that be okay?"

"A lousy quarter?" the drum leader exclaimed. "If you think we're going to waste our time, beating these cans around for a quarter, you're nuts! No way, mister. We quit!"

And the old man enjoyed peace.



9 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have heard this one before but it was twisted into a story about talking or something. Do you remember?

Reader Wil said...

Good morning to you too! That's a valuable advice! Fortunately nobody does this in our street, but who knows... it might happen here too.

Merle said...

Dear Patty ~~ I loved this clever old man and his way to solve the problem without upsetting anyone.
Thanks for your visit. Glad to hear you had your hair cut, but like everything else that is going up and the dental insurance. Nothing ever seems to come down. I found the fruit and veggies I bought on Tuesday were much dearer, but I do like my veggies so handed over the cash. Do you make your own sausages Patty? You mentioned filling the casings. I have never made them.
Take care, my friend and enjoy the week. Love, Merle.

Wanda said...

What a stroke of wisdom.....

If we would all take time to just use common sense...

Love your stories...

Annake said...

Hahahaha, that's the way to do it! Hmmmm, maybe I should try that one on the stunt pilots. Hee hee. ;-)

The Mulligan Family said...

Fantastic story! Love his clever way of handling an unpleasant situation. Too cute. Have a wonderful Wednesday... Cindy

Gigi Ann said...

Now that was an ingenious fellow...

Sister--Helen said...

with age comes wisdom....sometimes

Renie Burghardt said...

Wiley old codger, wasn't he?

Have a nice evening, Patty.

We've been getting rain all day. What a blessing!