(A bit long but worth the read)
Jake is struggling through a bus station with two huge & obviously heavy suitcases when a stranger comes up behind him & asks,
“Have you got the time?”
Jake sighs, puts down the suitcases & turns around.
After glancing at his wrist he says “It's about a quarter to six”.
“Hey, that's a pretty fancy watch”, exclaims the stranger.
Jake brightens a little. “Yeah, it's not bad. Take a look at this”, and he shows him a time zone display for every time zone in the world. He hits a few buttons & from somewhere on the watch a voice says, "The time is eleven to six" in a British accent.
A few more buttons and the voice says something in Japanese.
Jake continues, “I've put in regional accents for each city”.
He then pushes a few more buttons& a tiny but very high resolution map of N.Y. appears on the display. “Zoom in on Central New York”, he adds to the watch, and the display changes to show the the center of N.Y.
“It responds to voice?” gasps the stranger, & Jake nods enthusiastically.
“But I haven't got it all programmed yet, most of the functions are still button-activated”. “I want to buy that watch!", says the stranger.
"Oh, no, it's not ready for sale yet; I'm still working out the bugs", says the inventor.
“I'll give you $1000 for it,” offers the stranger.
Oh, no, I've already spent more than $8000,” says Jake.
“I'll give you $10,000 for it,” responds the stranger.
“But it's just not done,” replies Jake.
“I'll give you $15,000 for it,” says the stranger as he pulls out his chequebook, “I've just got to have that watch.”
Jake stops to think. He's only put about $8500 into materials and development, and with $15,000 he could make another one and have it ready for merchandising in only another half a year. $15000? The stranger frantically finishes writing the cheque and waves it in front of him.
“Here it is, ready to hand to you right here and now”. Jake abruptly makes his decision. “Ok”, he says, and peels off the watch. They make the exchange, the cheque for the watch, and the stranger starts happily away.
“Hey, wait a minute”, calls Jake after the stranger, who turns around warily.
Jake indicates the two suitcases he'd been trying to wrestle through the bus station. “Don't forget your batteries!”
2007-06-19
00:15:12
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