The Silly Season!
This is a silly season blog, but after the riots in the UK and troubles on the international stock markets this week, we need a bit of silliness for the weekend.
Two engineering students were biking across a university campus. One said, “Where did you get such a great bike?” The second engineer replied, “Well, I was walking along yesterday, minding my own business, when a beautiful woman rode up on this bike, threw it to the ground, took off all her clothes and said, “Take what you want.” The first engineer nodded approvingly and said, “Good choice: The clothes probably wouldn’t have fitted you anyway.”
Creative negotiators are like creative engineers. They have a mindset which sees things differently from ‘normal’ people. As a result they are able to exploit opportunities others would not notice.
An explorer decides to pit his wits against the elements by crossing the Sahara desert with no back- up. He gets lost and after a day of being lost runs out of water. Just when he had given up hope, he sees in the distance a tiny oasis, consisting of a few palm trees and one building. When he arrives, he sees on the building a sign that says ‘ TIE WAREHOUSE’. He goes in and begs the proprietor for some water.
‘Sorry,’ says the store owner, ‘I don’t do water, I do ties. Do you want a tie?’ The explorer is appalled at this attitude. He asks for water again, again he is offered a tie instead. But the store owner tells him that his brother runs a restaurant about 30 minutes’ walk away, and he will have plenty of food and water for sale. He points out the direction to take; the explorer leaves in disgust.
An hour later the explorer returns to the Tie Warehouse on his hands and knees. He is now severely dehydrated. The store owner asks ‘So what happened? Didn’t you find my brother’s restaurant?’”
‘Oh, I found it alri