The Psychology of Quality and More

In the Soup

A group of soldiers stationed in Korea hired a local boy to cook and clean for them. Loving a practical joke, they soon took advantage of the boy’s seeming naivete.

They smeared Vaseline on the stove handles so that when he’d turn the stove on the morning he got grease all over his fingers. They put plastic water buckets over the door so that he got soaked when he opened the door. They even nailed his shoes to the floor during the night.

Day after day the boy took brunt of their practical jokes without saying anything.

Finally the men felt guilty about what they were doing, so they sat down with the young Korean and said, “Look, we know these pranks aren’t funny anymore, and we’re sorry. We’re never gonna take advantage of you again.”

It seemed too good to be true to the houseboy.

“No more sticky on stove?” he asked.

“Nope.”

“No more water on door?”

“Er, no.”

“No more nail in shoes?”

“Nope, never again.”

“Okay,” the boy said with a smile, “no more spit in soup.”

***

~Many variants exist of this story - original soure is unknown~