The Engineer and The Manager

[Thorin]

lifted from TheDailyWTF here: http://thedailywtf.com/Comments/Change-Request.aspx#429488

The Engineer and the Manager

A man is flying in a hot air balloon and realizes he is lost. He reduces height and spots a man down below. He lowers the balloon further and shouts: "Excuse me, can you help me? I promised my friend I would meet him half an hour ago, but I don't know where I am."

The man below says: "Yes. You are in a hot air balloon, hovering approximately 30 feet above this field. You are between 40 and 42 degrees N. latitude, and between 58 and 60 degrees W. longitude."

"You must be an engineer," says the balloonist.

"I am," replies the man. "How did you know?"

"Well," says the balloonist, "everything you have told me is technically correct, but I have no idea what to make of your information, and the fact is I am still lost.

"The man below says, "You must be a manager."

"I am," replies the balloonist, "but how did you know?"

"Well," says the man, "you don't know where you are, or where you are going. You have made a promise which you have no idea how to keep, and you expect me to solve your problem. The fact is you are in the exact same position you were in before we met, but now it is somehow my fault."

[Mr. Analog]

[Darren Dirt]

  Sharing that truth-filled joke made my week. 


also...

lifted from TheDailyWTF here: http://thedailywtf.com/Comments/Change-Request.aspx#429488

...you forgot to mention this other truth-filled bit, a video sketch:
"The Expert" (i.e. logical rationally-thinking engineer vs. EVERYONE ELSE) (moral of the story: hold off on saying "YES" when an irrational person asks "can you..." until you have fully clarified Every. Damn. Detail.) <-- 3m21s and onward is SOOOO applicable to so many meetings with managers and other high-level positions who "just don't get it"