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A power plant stopped working. None of the engineers could fix it. They called the retired engineer who designed the power plant years ago for help. He arrives,

A power plant stopped working. None of the engineers could fix it. They called the retired engineer who designed the power plant years ago for help. He arrives, looks at the control room panels, walks through the plant, pulls out a screw driver, and turns a screw. The power plant starts working again. He quickly writes an invoice for $100,010. The manager complains asking why he is charging so much when he only turned one screw. The engineer replies, "I'm charging $10 for turning the screw and $100,000 for knowing which screw to turn."

eesmith 3y ago
That story was old even before my parents were born. https://quoteinvestigator.com/2017/03/06/tap/ https://quoteinvestigator.com/2017/03/06/tap/ and https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/know-where-man/ https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/know-where-man/ . Instead of making up a new variant, you might use one with a bit more historical lineage. My favorite version involves Charles Proteus Steinmetz, the deservedly named "Wizard of Schenectady", from this 1965 letter to the editor at Life: https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=QFMEAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA16&pg=PA27&redir_esc=y&hl=en#v=onepage&q&f=true https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=QFMEAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA16&pg... taking place supposedly around 1920 (see https://history.stackexchange.com/questions/43438/in-what-year-did-charles-proteus-steinmetz-fix-fords-generator-for-the-famed-1 https://history.stackexchange.com/questions/43438/in-what-ye... ). That still doesn't mean it actually happened, but you might get an up-vote by Steinmetz fans. ;)
lispisok 3y ago
Great Facebook boomer copypasta but my takeaway from this story is the power plant was designed very poorly if one loose screw can take down the whole system and is not diagnosable by anybody who didnt design the system. The retired engineer did a very bad job.

eesmith 3y ago

That story was old even before my parents were born. https://quoteinvestigator.com/2017/03/06/tap/ https://quoteinvestigator.com/2017/03/06/tap/ and https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/know-where-man/ https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/know-where-man/ . Instead of making up a new variant, you might use one with a bit more historical lineage. My favorite version involves Charles Proteus Steinmetz, the deservedly named "Wizard of Schenectady", from this 1965 letter to the editor at Life: https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=QFMEAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA16&pg=PA27&redir_esc=y&hl=en#v=onepage&q&f=true https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=QFMEAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA16&pg... taking place supposedly around 1920 (see https://history.stackexchange.com/questions/43438/in-what-year-did-charles-proteus-steinmetz-fix-fords-generator-for-the-famed-1 https://history.stackexchange.com/questions/43438/in-what-ye... ). That still doesn't mean it actually happened, but you might get an up-vote by Steinmetz fans. ;)

lispisok 3y ago

Great Facebook boomer copypasta but my takeaway from this story is the power plant was designed very poorly if one loose screw can take down the whole system and is not diagnosable by anybody who didnt design the system. The retired engineer did a very bad job.