(Click here for more Minor Tweaks or here for I Have OPINIONS!!!)
June 26, 2005
Priceless
Suppose you want to buy a bottle of water. Now further suppose that there is no price marked on the bottle or indeed on the refrigerated case from whence it came. So naturally you say to the guy behind the counter: "How much?" This straightforward question sets in motion the following exchange:
Man Behind the Counter: "Ten dollars."
You: [blank stare]
Man Behind the Counter: "Yeah, they're all ten dollars."
You: [menacing stare]
Man Behind the Counter: "Ha ha. It's a dollar-sixty."
I don't get this joke but it must be pretty good because I've heard variations of it throughout the country. The above example took place yesterday at a hotel in Houston. A few weeks ago I asked a shuttle driver how much he charged and he replied "Twenty-thousand dollars." The price, as you probably guessed, was twenty dollars; the "thousand" was presumably added for humorous effect. But do people ever laugh? Is there a single person anywhere who finds this even slightly funny? And assuming it is the height of hilarity to pretend that items or services cost much more than they actually do, doesn't the joke wear thin after a few dozen repetitions?
But what I really want to know is did the shuttle driver and the guy selling me the bottle of water each come up with the idea independently or did they hear it from somebody else and think to themselves "Hey, that's a good one -- I should add it to my repertoire of witty rejoinders"?
Posted by teb at June 26, 2005 06:53 AM