The Engineer

The Engineer and the Financier’s Dilemma

A wealthy financier approaches an engineer at his place of business and proceeds to tell him that he wishes to commission the construction of a top-notch yacht.  “Unfortunately,” he tells the engineer, “my cash is tied up in investments, and all I have is this dung-heap from one of my farms for resources to get you started.”

As the engineer ponders the rather ridiculous request of the gentlemen, the man adds, “Time and cost is not an object.  It can take ten years, and I will be able to pay you twice the value of the boat at that time.”  With that, then engineers proceeds to tell the financier that he would need to supply a small sum up-front, and a same-size pile of resource each year for the next 10 years until the boat is completed. 

The engineer proceeds to haul the pile of bio-refuse to an undisclosed location some distance from his business, and each year he does the same taking time out of his schedule to visit this site where the boat was to be constructed. 

Near the end of ten years the engineer took a 6-week block of time to disappear from his office.  After this time he contacted the financier to tell him that the yacht was complete.

When the financier arrived he was astonished at the craftsmanship of the yacht; the hull was made of teak, the trimmings of mahogany, cherry, and ebony.  Surely, this was the finest yacht ever made.  When he heard the cost of the yacht, he proceeded to explain that his cash was tied-up, but the resources he was providing had come from one of three farms that he owned.  He still had 10 years of resource saved up from the other two farms that he could offer as payment.

The engineer sat silent for a moment, and then said, “I’m going to enjoy this new boat of mine.”

The financier exclaimed, “What?!  You could build TWO of these yachts with all this material!  Why won’t you accept the payment?”

The engineer then proceeded to explain, ”It takes time to grow the REAL material for this boat.  Feel free to grow your own trees and come back with the appropriate materials.  I can build you a boat in 6 weeks when you do that.  It’s my job to take shit for resources and produce a masterpiece, but I don’t take shit for payment!”