• Aceticon@lemmy.world
    104·
    2 years ago

    There’s an anecdote that goes like this:

    An important machine in a factory stops working. No matter what they do they can’t get it to work again.

    So they bring in a specialist to solve the problem, for an agreed fee of $1000

    The guy checks the machine over and then goes and presses a specific button and the machine is back working again.

    So the factory manager goes: “All you did was press a button! Why should I pay you $1000 for pressing a button?!”

    To which the specialist answers: “Well, you see, you’re paying me just $1 to press the button. The other $999 are for knowing which button to press”.

    • TexasDrunk@lemmy.world
      47·
      2 years ago

      I heard the same story when I was a kid, but it was about a boilermaker. The rest was for knowing where to tap his hammer to fix their problem.

      It’s an obviously apocryphal story with two great messages. First, don’t undervalue your expertise just because the fix was easy (I still have a problem with that). Second, if you don’t know what you’re doing don’t question the expert just because it looked easy.

      • mrsgreenpotato@discuss.tchncs.de
        32·
        2 years ago

        I know a version with a graphics designer. They designed something in 10 minutes and asked 1000 USD for it. When confronted on why it is so expensive for just 10 minutes of work, the answer is that it’s not just the 10 minutes of work, but also the 10 years of experience that lead to this 10 minutes of work.