Fence Repair At The White House


Three contractors are bidding to fix a broken fence at The White House in D.C.

One from New Jersey, another from Tennessee and the third, from Florida.


They go with a White House Official to examine the fence.


The Florida contractor takes out a tape measure and does some measuring, then works some figures with a pencil.

"Well," he says, "I figure the job will run about $900:

$400 for materials, $400 for my crew and $100 profit for me."


The Tennessee contractor also does some measuring and figuring, then says,


"I can do this job for $700: $300 for materials, $300 for my crew and $100 profit for me."


The New Jersey contractor doesn't measure or figure, but leans over to the White House official and whispers, “$2700.00.”

The official, incredulous, says, "You didn't even measure like the other guys!

How did you come up with such a high figure?"

The New Jersey contractor whispers back,

"$1000 for me, $1000 for you, and we hire the guy from Tennessee to fix the fence."

"Done!” replies the government official.




And that, my friends, is how it all works!