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Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxl!ihnp4!fortune!crane
From: crane@fortune.UUCP (John Crane)
Newsgroups: net.jokes
Subject: Handling a Crisis
Message-ID: <3166@fortune.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 26-Apr-84 17:10:26 EST
Article-I.D.: fortune.3166
Posted: Thu Apr 26 17:10:26 1984
Date-Received: Fri, 27-Apr-84 05:46:05 EST
Organization: Fortune Systems, Redwood City, CA
Lines: 33


It seems there was this executive who just recently started at a
company.  On his first day on the job, he discovered three envelopes
in his desk drawer, left there by his predecessor.  The note attached
to the envelopes said, "Open the first envelope at the first crisis."
The executive threw them back in the drawer and forgot about them.
Then, about six months later, he encountered the first crisis in his
new job, and couldn't figure out what to do about it.  Late one night,
he remembered the envelopes, and dug them out of the drawer.  He
opened the first envelope.  There was a note in it that said, "Blame
it on your predecessor."  The executive was skeptical, but so
desperate that he decided to try it.  To his astonishment, it worked,
and so he managed to get by his first crisis.

In about another six months, a second crisis occurred, this one much
worse and more complex than the first one.  Again the executive was
stumped.  Nothing he tried seemed to work, and things just seemed to
be getting worse.  Knowing his job was on the line, he dug out the
second envelope.  In it was a note that said, "Reorganize." He didn't
really expect it to work, but tried it anyway.  He was amazed when it
did work, and somehow he managed to squeak by his second crisis.

Several months went by, and a third crisis came up.  It was much worse
than the first two.  The executive had no clue what to do, or what to
try.  Every alternative seemed potentially worse, and every option had
its own set of disastrous side effects.  Without feeling much concern,
the executive confidently reached for the third envelope.  In it was a
note that said, "Prepare three envelopes."

This story, of course, is not relevant to anything in particular.