How Did Bob Turn Tomatoes into Millions?

  • Thread starter Thread starter JamesU
  • Start date Start date
AI Thread Summary
The discussion revolves around a fictional story about a man named Bob who, despite being poor and lacking a computer or email address, becomes a successful tomato seller and eventually a millionaire. The narrative highlights Bob's journey from financial struggle to wealth, contrasting his success with the misfortunes of his friend Fred, who loses his job at Microsoft. The conversation shifts to a critique of the story's punchline, suggesting that it misrepresents the value of technology in achieving success. Participants reference the story's similarities to "The Verger" by W. Somerset Maugham, expressing concern over its alteration and emphasizing the importance of the original narrative. The dialogue also touches on humor and cultural variations in storytelling, with playful banter about different tales. Overall, the thread explores themes of success, technology, and the integrity of classic literature.
JamesU
Gold Member
Messages
821
Reaction score
3
From an email I got:

One time, there was a very poor man named bob. bob had a friend names fred who worked at microsoft. fred knew about bob's financial problems, and since bob was very smart, he tried to get bob a job at the company.

bob did very well at his interviw. he answered all his questions correctly, and impressed the boss. then, he was asked: 'okay, we can start you at $15 an hour, now, I need your email address'. bob told the man that he was ver poor and didn't own a computer, have an email address or have any knowledge on the subject. bob was rejected.

On his way home, bob noticed a guy selling 10 tomatoes for $5. he just happened to have $5, and bought the tomatoes.

He was waiting for a car to pass at the crosswalk when the man in the car said, 'hey, how much do you want for those tomatoes, I have $10.' bob sold the tomatoes and made his profit.

The next day, bob bought 25 tomatoes for $12.50, and eventually sold them for $50. he repeated this precess every day.

by the end of the year, bob had earned quite a bit of money in the tomato sales, he soon bought a truck to be able to transport tomatoes.

by the end of the next year, he had a large area where he and his family grew tomatoes and other plants, and 3 more trucks. he was making about $100,000 a year.

5 years later, microsoft was firing off a whole load of people, of of them was fred. fred was forced to sell his home, and became homeless; bob offered him a small shack, because bob was now making over $5,000,000 in sales.

which means that by having an email address, you are more likely to become homeless than a millionare :biggrin:
 
Physics news on Phys.org
Aarrrgh ! You completely massacred the punchline (not to say anything of the math :wink:). Anyway, to modify the story ...

At the beginning, Bob was very poor and was "interviewing" for the position of janitor, at Microsoft.

<and after Yomamma's story>

...Millionaire Bob decides one day, to buy insurance. At the end of the process, the insurance agent asks Bob for him email address. Bob replies that he does not own a computer and has no email address. The agent is shocked. He exclaims, "How on Earth have you managed to amass such wealth without the Internet, E-mail and e-commerce? Just imagine where you would have been by now, if you had been connected from the very start!"

After a moment's silence, Bob replies: "I would have been a janitor at Microsoft!"
 
Last edited:
Thank you Gokul, that is much better!
 
No! No! A million times NO!

That was a mutilation of a very famous short story by W. Somerset Maugham called "The Verger." Read it here:
http://www.sinden.org/verger.html

edit: or at least go see the last few lines of this story.
 
Last edited:
Does everyone know the similar one about the homeless man living on the beach, and his rich, fishing-corporation-owning friend?
 
Chi Meson said:
No! No! A million times NO!

That was a mutilation of a very famous short story by W. Somerset Maugham called "The Verger." Read it here:
http://www.sinden.org/verger.html

edit: or at least go see the last few lines of this story.
Mutilation of Maugham story??
I'm with Chi Meson here; that's sacrilege..

Everyone should read "The Verger"; it's a great story.
 
arildno said:
Mutilation of Maugham story??
I'm with Chi Meson here; that's sacrilege..

Everyone should read "The Verger"; it's a great story.
Is it about a man who trims the grass on the side of roads? Sounds :zzz: .
 
No, that's "the Merger" by J. Alphabet Balm. Often confused with each other.
 
Does anyone know about the boy who cried wolf?
 
  • #10
No, my culture has a different version. The boy cried "Linux" instead and everyone lived happily ever after.
 
Back
Top