A shepherd was herding his flock in a remote pasture when suddenly a brand new BMW X5 advanced out of a dust cloud towards him.
The driver, a young man in a Hugo Boss suit and Gucci shoes, Ray-Ban sunglasses and a designer tie, leans out of the window and says, “If I can tell you exactly how many sheep you have in your flock, will you give me one?”
The shepherd looks at this yuppie, then at his peacefully grazing flock before calmly answering, “Sure.”
The young man parks his car, whips out his laptop, connects to a mobile phone, surfs to an online GPS satellite navigation system, scans the area, opens up a database and some 60 Excel spreadsheets with complicated formulas, and finally prints out a 150-page report on his high-tech miniaturised printer. He turns to the shepherd and says, “You have here exactly 1,586 sheep.”
“This is correct and, as agreed, you can take one of the sheep,” the shepherd says.
He watches the young man make a selection and bundle it into his BMW.
The shepherd then says to the young man, “If I can tell you exactly what your business is, will you give me my property back?”
“Okay, why not,” the young man answers.
“You’re a consultant,” says the shepherd.
“That’s correct! How did you guess that?” asks the young man.
“Easy,” answers the shepherd. “You turn up here, though nobody invited you; you want to be paid for an answer to a question I never asked; and you gave me information I already knew. Besides, you don’t know Jack about my business.”
“How did you come to that conclusion,” says the young man.
“Because you took my dog.”