An accountant’s thriving London business had been in the family for generations. His main office was in an old building, and his clients walked up a single, elegant marble step to reach the front door. Over time, the marble step had worn away until it devel- oped a deep dent that was increasingly hazardous to his clientele.
One day, the accountant asked a stonemason to take a look at the situation and give him a quote on how much a new marble step would cost. The stonemason examined the step and then scratched his head.
“It’s a big job,” said the stonemason. “But I suppose I could give you a new step for 500 pounds.” The accountant frowned. “That’s a bit more than I wanted to pay.” They both looked at the step, and then the accountant asked: “What if you dug up the step, turned it over, and put it back into the ground? Then it would be good as new.” The stonemason nodded. “50 pounds.” “Do that,” said the accountant, and he went back inside the office.
A few hours later the stonemason rang the bell. The accountant walked to the door, opened it, and saw the stonemason standing next to the marble step that he’d dug out of the ground. A nearly identical dent gutted the other side. The stonemason chuckled. “From the looks of it, I’d say your great- great-great-granddaddy thought of the same thing
about 150 years ago.”
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