A great hulking freighter was in dock because of puzzling noises. And it just wouldn’t “get up and go”.
The in-house engineers of the ship owners worked day and night but couldn’t figure out what was causing the noises. Losing thousands of thousands of dollars every day their ship was in dock, the ship owners called in consultant after consultant.
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No one, it seemed, could fix the problem.
Their expenses mounted. There were insurance payments to be made, employees to be paid, rent… Not to mention the daily maintenance and costs of the ship. And their clients were going elsewhere. They, after all, had businesses to run and payrolls to meet, too.
Frantic, they finally called in THE boilermaker—a man who had been fixing ship boilers practically since the days of Davy Jones. He was reputed in the industry as having the magic touch, succeeding time and time again where other experts had failed.
The boilermaker came in soon enough after the call. The ship owners and the consultants they hired were all eagerly waiting for his arrival. Everyone wanted to see how the legendary boilermaker was going to fix the problem.
Although the boilermaker was an old man, he was well built and energetic. He listened carefully to the sounds the machinery was making, and quickly looked through the maze of pipes. Having taken everything in, he reached into his toolbox and pulled out a hammer. He then walked straight up to a small red valve and gave it one light tap.
Like night differs from day, the ship woke from it’s sullen, money-sucking sleep. A smooth humming replaced the racket the machinery had been making before. Power came back up. The ship was back in business!
The ship owners were overjoyed when the boilermaker brought their ship back to life. It was especially amazing that it was done with such a simple act!
Their joy soon ended when the boilermaker took out his bill, scribbled a few words and handed it over to them:
Total......................$10,000.00
“What? $10,000 for just a simple tap?” the ship owners exclaimed in disbelief. “This is ridiculous! Even a little boy can give that lousy $#%% red valve a tap. And you want $10,000 for it?”
Outraged, they demanded an answer from the boilermaker.
The boilermaker didn’t say anything. He calmly took back the bill, scribbled a few more words, then handed it back to the owners again. The owners, surrounded by and all the consultants, were curious to see what the boilermaker had added::
Tapping on value...........$ 2.00
Knowing where to tap.......$ 9,998.00
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Total......................$10,000.00