The story illustrates lateral
thinking, narrow-mindedness, the risks of making assumptions, and judging
people and situations:
A party of suppliers was being
given a tour of a mental hospital. One of the visitors had made
some very insulting remarks about the patients.
After the tour the visitors
were introduced to various members of staff in the canteen. The rude visitor chatted to
one of the security staff, Bill, a kindly and wise ex-policeman.
"Are they all crazy
loonies in here then?" said the rude man.
"Only the ones who fail
the test," said Bill.
"What's the test?"
said the man.
"Well, we show them a
bath full of water, a bucket, a jug and an egg-cup, and we ask them what's the
quickest way to empty the bath," said Bill.
"Oh I see, simple - the
normal ones know it's the bucket, right?"
"No actually," said
Bill, "The normal ones say pull out the plug. Should I check when there's
a bed free for you?"