There once was an engineer who had an exceptional gift for fixing all things mechanical. He retired following a happy thirty-year career. Shortly thereafter his company contacted him about a seemingly impossible problem with one of their million-dollar machines.
The engineer reluctantly took the challenge. After spending a day studying the huge machine, he marked a small “X” in chalk on a machine component and proudly stated, “This is where your problem is.” The part was replaced and the machine worked perfectly.
The company was astounded to receive a bill for $50,000 from the engineer for his service. They demanded an itemized accounting of his charges.
The engineer responded briefly:
One chalk mark …………..$1
Knowing where to put it …..$49,999