01/29/01

AA Consultant
Once upon a time there was a shepherd looking after his sheep on the edge
of a deserted road. Suddenly a brand new Jeep Cherokee screeches to a halt
next to him. The driver, a young man dressed in a Brioni suit, Cerrutti
shoes, Ray-Ban glasses, and a YSL tie gets out and asks the shepherd: - If
I
guess how many sheep you do have, you give me one of them? The shepherd
looks at the young man, then looks at the sheep which graze and says: -
All
right. The young man parks the car, connects the notebook and the mobile,
enters a NASA site, scans the ground using his GPS, opens a data base and
60 Excel tables filled with algorithms, then prints a 150-pages report on
his high-tech mini-printer. He then turns to the shepherd and says: - You
have exactly 1586 sheep here. The shepherd answers: - That's correct, you
can have your sheep. The young man takes the sheep and puts in the back of
his jeep. The shepherd looks at him and asks: - If I guess your profession,
will you return my sheep to me? The young man answers: - Yes, why not. The
shepherd says: - You are an Arthur Andersen consultant! How did you know?
asks the young man. Very simple, answers the shepherd: - First, you come
here without being called. Second, you charge me a sheep to tell me
something I already knew. Third, you do not understand anything about what
I do, because you took my dog!