A
man in a hot air balloon realized he was lost. He reduced
altitude, and spotted a
woman below. He descended a bit more
and shouted, "Excuse
me, can you help
me? I promised a friend
I would meet him an hour ago,
but I don't know where
I am."
The
woman replied, "You're in a hot air balloon hovering
approximately 30 feet above
the ground. You're between 40
and 41 degrees north
latitude and between
89 and 90 degrees
west longitude."
You
must be an
Engineer," said the balloonist.
"I
am," replied the woman. "How did you know?"
Well,
" answered the balloonist, "everything you told me is
technically correct, but
I've no idea what to make of your
information, and the
fact is I'm still lost. Frankly,
you've
not been much help at all. If anything,
you've delayed my
trip."
The
woman below responded, "You must be a Manager."
"I
am," replied the balloonist. "But how did you know?"
"Well,"
said the woman, "you don't know where you are or
where you're going. You
have risen to where you are due to a
large quantity of hot air.
You made a promise
that you've
no
idea how to keep, and you expect people beneath you to
solve your
problems. The fact is, you are in exactly the
same position you
were in
before we met! But now,
somehow, it's my fault!!"