An engineer had an uncanny talent for fixing all things mechanical, problems that vexed many of his younger coworkers. After serving his company loyally for over 30 years, he happily retired.
Several years later, the company contacted him regarding a seemingly impossible problem they were having with one of their multimillion-dollar machines. They had tried everything and everyone else to get the machine to work but to no avail. In desperation, they called on the retired engineer who had solved so many of their problems in the past, promising to pay him whatever it took to fix the problem.
The engineer reluctantly took the challenge. He spent a day studying the huge machine. At the end of the day, he marked a small “x” in chalk on a particular component of the machine and stated confidently, “This is where your problem is.”
They replaced the part and the machine worked perfectly again.
The company received a bill for $50,000 from the engineer for his service. The purchasing department demanded a fully itemized bill of materials for his charges.
The engineer responded briefly:
• One chalk mark $1
• Knowing where to put it $49,999
The company paid the bill in full, and the engineer retired again in peace.