Humor: A Consultant's Role, Parte Deux

A shepherd was herding his flock in a remote pasture when suddenly a brand-new Mercedes 500SL sped out of the dust cloud towards him. The driver, a young man in an Armani suit, Gucci shoes, Cartier sunglasses and YSL tie, leaned out the window and asked the shepherd, "If I tell you exactly how many sheep you have in your flock, will you give me one?"

The shepherd gazed at the man, an obvious yuppie, then turned to look at his peacefully-grazing flock and calmly answered, "Certainly."

The yuppie parked his car, whipped out his IBM Thinkpad and connected it to a cell phone. He then surfed to a NASA page on the internet where he called up a GPS satellite navigation system, scanned the area, and then opened up a database and an Excel spreadsheet with complex formulas. He sent an email on his Blackberry and, after a few minutes, received a response. Finally, he prints out a 130 page report on his miniaturized printer then turns to the shepherd and says, "You have exactly 1492 sheep".

"That is correct, take one of the sheep" said the shepherd.

He watches the young man select one of the animals and bundle it into his car.

Then the shepherd says: "If I can tell you exactly what your business is, will you give me back my animal?"

"OK, why not" answered the young man.

"Clearly, you are a consultant" said the shepherd.

"That's correct" says the yuppie, "but how did you guess that?"

"No guessing was required" answers the shepherd. "You turned up here although nobody called you. You want to get paid for an answer I already knew, to a question I never asked, and you don't know crap about my business....Now give me back my dog".