Category: Salesmen
YOU EITHER HAVE IT, OR YOU DON'T
YOU EITHER HAVE IT, OR YOU DON'T
All traveling salesmen used to meet in the same compartment on the train and there - over a few beers, play cards, swaps stories and pass the long hours of the journey. One day a young, new salesman came on the train and asked permission to join his peers. He did not as yet dare join the conversation and was just listening to his elder and more experienced colleagues, in the hope of learning something. Suddenly he heard one of them say:
“You remember that fabulous one, ‘9’?” - and saw to his astonishment, that most of the salesmen burst out laughing. After a while, another said:
“And what about ‘27’?” - this time everybody started guffawing, slapping their knees, holding their sides and wiping their tears. One guy in the corner tried to trump the previous teller and said:
“That is nothing! Listen to this: ‘13’,” - but this time, hardly anyone smiled.
His curiosity aroused, the young salesman whispered to the man next to him:
“Can you tell me please what do all those numbers mean and why is everybody laughing?”
His neighbor smiled understandingly and replied:
“We have been traveling so many years together that by now we know each others’ jokes by heart. So, instead of retelling them over and over, we numbered them. Now it is enough for someone to mention a number, to get us all laughing.”
(End of Joke One)
The young man found that this was a capital idea and asked for a list of all the jokes with their numbers, so that at their next meeting, he too could participate in the joke-telling ritual. He made a great concentrated effort to memorize the list by his next journey and indeed had it down pat when he came on the train. As soon as everybody was seated, beer in hand, the young man exclaimed:
“Gentlemen, do you remember ‘32’?”
To his great disappointment, the faces of the assembled men remained serious. Nobody even smiled.
“Well,” - thought the young man to himself. “It is not such a hot item anyway. To warm up the atmosphere, I should have started off with the best one of the lot.”
“And what about ‘19’?” - he continued.
An embarrassing silence ensued. After a while somebody remarked:
“My son, it is not enough to recognize a joke. You must know how to tell it!”
“You remember that fabulous one, ‘9’?” - and saw to his astonishment, that most of the salesmen burst out laughing. After a while, another said:
“And what about ‘27’?” - this time everybody started guffawing, slapping their knees, holding their sides and wiping their tears. One guy in the corner tried to trump the previous teller and said:
“That is nothing! Listen to this: ‘13’,” - but this time, hardly anyone smiled.
His curiosity aroused, the young salesman whispered to the man next to him:
“Can you tell me please what do all those numbers mean and why is everybody laughing?”
His neighbor smiled understandingly and replied:
“We have been traveling so many years together that by now we know each others’ jokes by heart. So, instead of retelling them over and over, we numbered them. Now it is enough for someone to mention a number, to get us all laughing.”
(End of Joke One)
The young man found that this was a capital idea and asked for a list of all the jokes with their numbers, so that at their next meeting, he too could participate in the joke-telling ritual. He made a great concentrated effort to memorize the list by his next journey and indeed had it down pat when he came on the train. As soon as everybody was seated, beer in hand, the young man exclaimed:
“Gentlemen, do you remember ‘32’?”
To his great disappointment, the faces of the assembled men remained serious. Nobody even smiled.
“Well,” - thought the young man to himself. “It is not such a hot item anyway. To warm up the atmosphere, I should have started off with the best one of the lot.”
“And what about ‘19’?” - he continued.
An embarrassing silence ensued. After a while somebody remarked:
“My son, it is not enough to recognize a joke. You must know how to tell it!”
Custom Search
No comments:
Post a Comment