The Kid Had Enough

A young boy about ten entered a coffee shop located off the lobby of a swank downtown hotel.  When he sat down at the counter, a waitress came by, slammed down a glass of water and brusquely asked, "What can I get you son?"

"How much is an ice cream sundae?" he asked.

 

"One dollar and fifty cents," she snapped. 

 

He put his hand in his pocket and pulled out a small amount of coins and studied them.  "How much would a plain dish of ice cream be?" he asked. 

 

By now several well-dressed people had entered the coffee shop and were waiting for tables.  The waitress harshly replied, "One dollar."  

 

The boy counted his coins again, then said,  "I'll have a plain ice cream."

Wanting to get rid of the kid, the waitress quickly brought out his ice cream, dropped it on the counter in front of him, then set the bill next to it and quickly walked away.  She never bothered to returned to see how he was doing.  When the boy finished his ice cream, he picked up his bill, paid the cashier and walked out.

Noticing the kid finally left, the waitress walked over to the counter and picked up his dish.  When she went to wipe down the counter, her eyes teared at what she saw.  There, stacked neatly beside his empty dish, was one quarter, two dimes and a nickel.  The kid actually had enough for a sundae but chose not to get it because then he wouldn't have had enough to leave her a proper tip.

Give`em Only What They Need

A young Minister and his family were transferred to a small rural community.  On the eve of his first Sunday, a major snow storm hit the area.  When he and his family awoke on Sunday morning, there was nearly three feet of snow outside. "Do you think we’ll be able to have a service today?" his wife asked.

 

"Quite honestly, no," he replied.  "I just don't see how anyone will be able to make it to church through all this snow."

Well, two minutes before the start of the scheduled service, a loud engine roar was heard in the distance.  When the family ran to the windows, they saw a farmer driving his big John Deere tractor and he was heading straight for the church. When the farmer arrived in front of the church, he jumped down off the seat.

The Minister ran out to greet him and the farmer said, "Reverend, I hope you don’t mind me driving my tractor this morning, but I just couldn’t make it through all this snow with my car."  Then the farmer realized the parking lot was empty and he was the only person at the church.

"Maybe you weren’t planning on holding services today?" he inquired.

 

"Not at all.  We are glad you are here, please come in.  We would be delighted to hold a service for you," replied the Minister.  As they walked into the church, his wife began to play the organ and his children, who were sitting in the choir loft, began to sing.

About an hour and a half later when the Minister finished his sermon, he walked to the back of the church, stood by the door and personally thanked the farmer for attending his first service in his new community.  Curious as to how he did, the Minister asked the farmer, "Did you enjoy the service this morning?" 

 

"I sure did," said Farmer Brown, "but to tell you the truth Preacher, it may have been just a bit too much."

"Too much?" replied the Minister.  "What do you mean, too much?"

 

"Well you see Preacher, I am just a simple farmer. The only responsibility I have is to feed my cows when they come home from the fields each night.  Once in a while after a big storm like this, only a few cows will make it back to the barn. Whenever that happens, I never ever give them the entire load of hay. I only give 'em what they need."

Why do Government Officials Make Dumb Decisions?

There was an international conference held in Paris a few years back and engineers from around the globe flew in to attend.  After morning-long seminars, they broke for lunch.  Upon walking out of the meeting rooms, they heard the Japanese coastline had been hit hard by a massive tsunami.

As the attendees funneled into a banquet room for lunch, they listened to the radio broadcasts.  It was announced that the President of the United States had authorized the deployment of two aircraft carriers to Japan.  Immediately, a few of the European engineers in line began to chuckle.   They said,  "How dumb is that?  The President of the United States is sending two aircraft carriers to Japan.  What does he intend to do, bomb the Japanese?"

An engineer from the Boeing corporation who was behind them in line commented, "An American aircraft carrier has three hospitals on board that can treat over five hundred people per day.  They are all nuclear powered so they can supply unlimited emergency electrical power to many facilities on shore.   They have three cafeterias with a capacity to feed up to 6,000 people three meals a day for up to 90 days without any need to resupply. 

He went on to say that they are also equipped with a sophisticated desalination system that can produce 40,000 gallons of fresh water from seawater each day.  Finally, he pointed out that all US carriers sail from port with a minimum of six helicopters on board.  Each helicopter can be used to transport victims to safety or any injured back to the ship for needed medical attention.

He then looked at the European engineers who scoffed at the dumb idea of the US President sending two aircraft carriers to Japan and said, "America has eleven such ships.  How many similar ships do your countries have?'

The European engineers stood silent.

Why This Puppy

It was Johnny's birthday.  He was eight years old.  His parents promised he could get a puppy when he was eight, so right after breakfast, they hopped in the car and drove to Grandma's house to get his puppy.

Grandma lived several miles away in a much bigger city.  Shortly after arriving at Grandma's house, Johnny's mother asked, "Johnny, would you like to walk to the pet store to look at the puppies?" 

 

Johnny proudly walked on his own down to Main Street where the pet store was located.  As he approached the store, he could see several puppies bobbing up and down in the big store window.  As he entered the store, four puppies huddled together in the display area began to jump up and down when Johnny came near.

Johnny introduced himself to the store owners and explained why he was there.  He asked if it would be alright to hold some of the puppies; they agreed.  While playing with the four puppies, he noticed a fifth puppy all alone curled up in the far corner and asked the owners if that puppy was from the same litter?

The lady responded he was but that he was not for sale. "How come?" Johnny  asked. 

 

"That puppy was born with a bad hip socket," she said, "and one of his back legs doesn't work very well."

 

"Wow," Johnny said, "What will you do with him?"  

 

"Well, tomorrow my husband will take him to the vet and have him put to sleep."

Johnny asked if he could hold that fifth puppy and the lady  nodded yes.  Instantly, the puppy responded to Johnny's touch with several big licks and they immediately became friends.  "This is the puppy for me.  This is the puppy I want to buy," Johnny said. 

 

The pet store owners reminded Johnny that the puppy was not for sale; however, Johnny insisted that this was the puppy he wanted to buy. 

Johnny turned to walk out the door and he said, "I'll go home  and get my money and be right back." 

 

The wife said, "I don't understand.  Why do you want this puppy when you could get one that is perfect and won't cause you any trouble?"

Without saying a word, Johnny lifted his left trouser leg and exposed a large chrome brace circling his leg and running up the entire length of his leg.  The owners looked at each other in silence.  Finally the husband spoke, "Son you don't need to go get any money.  We would like you to have that puppy."