A company had advertised an office vacancy and the boss was getting ready to interview the prospective candidated for the position.
Murphy decided to apply for the job and reported to the office for his job interview.
The boss, however, was determined not to hire an Irishman, so he decided to set a test for Murphy, hoping that he wouldn’t be able to answer the questions. Then he would be able to refuse him the job without getting into an argument.
Murphy was beckoned into the interview room and sat down.
The interviewer asked him the first question, which was, “Without using numbers, represent the number 9”.
So Murphy said, “Dat’s easy” and proceeded to draw three trees.
The boss took a long look at what Murphy had drawn, and said, “What the hell is that?”
Murphy answered, “Tree and tree and tree makes nine”.
“Fair enough,” replied the boss. “Second question then, same rules, but now represent 99”.
Murphy stared into space for a while, then maked a smudge on each of the trees.
“Der ya go sir,” he said.
The boss scratched his head and said, “How on earth do you get that to represent 99?”
Murphy replied, “Each tree is dirty now! So it’s dirty tree and dirty tree and dirty tree, dat’s 99”.
The boss was now getting worried that he was going to have to hire Murphy, so he said, “All right then, question three. Same rules again, but represent the number 100”.
Murphy stared into space again, then he shouted, “Got it!”
He makes a little mark at the base of each tree and Murphy said, “There ya go sir, 100”.
The boss looked at Murphy’s attempt and thought, “Ha! I’ve got him this time”.
“Go on Murphy, you must be mad if you think that represents a hundred!”
Murphy leaned forward and pointed to the marks at the tree bases. He said to the boss, “A little dog came along and pooped by each tree, so now you’ve got dirty tree and a turd, dirty tree and a turd, dirty tree and a turd, which makes one hundred”.
The boss just sat there both dumbfounded and fuming.
So Murphy piped up, “When do I start me job?”
Image used under a Collective Commons License from: https://www.flickr.com/photos/internetarchivebookimages/16488949699/