Trick Question

[12540dumont]

So, if someone handed you a small box and told you to go down a row of tomatoes and pick one of each kind for a special order, would you:

1. Pick tomatoes that weren't ripe?
2. Ask how many tomatoes to pick?
3. Ask if there was any special order they had to be picked in?

Help me....please. I'm sinking fast.

[billw]

I would fill the box with unripe tomatoes, because that is the only kind I like.

But, I imagine that the intended objective is to pick enough ripe tomatoes to fill the box.

If you got something other than a box filled with culls and horn worms, you have a good start.

If you are dealing with Gen Y, maybe you need to explain it in a YouTube video.

[Joseph Lofthouse]

I have had a new helper this summer. He has been a joy to work with. He pulls weeds in the bean row when I only asked him to pick beans. He pays attention to what's going on around him. Yesterday he discovered a 2nd row of green beans that I had forgot I planted. He doesn't bruise the produce by throwing it into the baskets. Hmmmm. Might be worth cutting my pay in half to keep someone like that around.

So many people that come to help make more work for me than they produce.

[steev]

What's wrong with hornworms? Lovely in tempura; crunchy on the outside, squishy on the inside, sort of like fried green tomatoes.

I'd pick ripe fruits in the order they're in the row. The question that occurs is: why do they want this? Are they sampling for possible later order, in which case some records may need to be kept, unless your tomatoes are so distinct that they can easily tell you what they want more of.

Joseph, having been churning my work-force the past 34 years, I would assure you that guy is a treasure; don't go all crazy, but make it worth his while to stick around; money isn't everything, appreciation and opportunity to learn are also valuable to the serious.

I can't count the number of dildoes who would walk past a 3' weed in a client's yard if they weren't directed to pull it, who wouldn't fail to mention that they'd eaten a sprinkler head with the mower, for fear they'd be blamed more for telling me than if I heard it from the client, too late to repair it, no harm done.

The valley in which is my farm is a back-water in what I think is the lowest per-capita income county in California. Retirement and foster-care are very common; typically the kids age-out of foster-care and there are no jobs, so their foster-parents can't/won't keep them, so they join the military or go to hell. Methamphetamine use is not uncommon (no small reason for there being lots of kids in foster care). My across-the-road neighbor has gotten certified in social work and is fostering two nice kids; I'm chewing on whether I can provide the older enough income that he can stay out of the army, while learning a way to make a living. One must pay it forward, or things go to hell; the notion that one can take the money and run is out of date, America having become one of the nations from which the self-serving need to run, to avoid their social responsibilities and the consequences of their rapacious behavior.

[davida]

Aug 7, 2013 14:31:02 GMT -5 12540dumont said:

So, if someone handed you a small box and told you to go down a row of tomatoes and pick one of each kind for a special order, would you:

1. Pick tomatoes that weren't ripe?
2. Ask how many tomatoes to pick?
3. Ask if there was any special order they had to be picked in?

Help me....please. I'm sinking fast.

There you go again, being tricky, Ms. Holly. So I assume that they returned with a box of green tomatoes?? Saddest of all is that they did not know enough to ask the right question if they did not understand such a simple request.

I can relate to your situation. I friend asked if his 15 year old twins could spend a day a week with me as part of their education. I requested that they write out what they desired to learn. The father was honest and said that they would try but they did not even know enough to know what all that there was to learn and did not know enough to ask the right questions. They are great boys but at 15, I believe that they should be young men and not boys.

[davida]

I just found this in my office. A lady that I share milk gave it to me in a frameable format. Must say that it struck home after my last post in this thread, especially the last sentence.

17th Century Nun's Prayer
Lord, thou knowest better than I know myself

that I am growing older and will someday be old.

Keep me from the fatal habit of thinking

I must say something on every subject and on every occasion.

Release me from the craving to straighten out everybody's affairs.

Make me thoughtful, but not moody: helpful, but not bossy.

With my vast store of wisdom, it seems a pity not to use it all,

but thou knowest, Lord, that I want a few friends at the end.

Keep my mind free from the endless recital of details;

give me wings to get to the point.

Seal my lips on my aches and pains.

They are increasing, and love of rehearsing them is

becoming sweeter as the years go by.

I dare not ask for grace enough to enjoy the tales of other’s pains,

But help me to endure them with patience.

I dare not ask for improved memory,

but for a growing humility and a lessening cocksureness

when my memory seems to clash with the memories of others.

Teach me the glorious lesson that occasionally, I may be mistaken.

Keep me reasonably sweet;

I do not want to be a saint - some of them are so hard to live with –

but a sour old person is one of the crowning works of the devil.

Give me the ability to see good things in unexpected places,

and talents in unexpected people.

And give me, oh Lord, the grace to tell them so
AMEN

So I will strive to be more patient and try to show the twins the joy of the farm along with the work and hopefully, I can share the joys with them. Remember to laugh.

David

[zeedman]

Nice.

[12540dumont]

So, thanks you all. I didn't think this was a trick question.

Davida, I think I want to be a sour old person, tripping the young with my cane as they go by. Why not, if I live that long, I can't have much longer to go.


What happened was that eventually, after an hour or so she came back with 20 tomatoes in one box, 10 in another as she wasn't sure what I meant by a box of tomatoes, of different kinds. And yes, she literally picked one of each, ripe or not.

I had a company who was having a bbq and wanted several kinds of tomatoes to serve. (The order was a Variety of Tomatoes, one flat). As their ARE 18 different kinds of tomatoes out there, I figured the easiest way to get her to pick several kinds was to say...one of each kind. Truly some of Dar's beefsteak tomatoes would fill a box!

My 70 year old neighbor came over subsequently and she and I went down the row and picked every ripe tomato in 1/2 hour and filled 6 boxes. We didn't start on the second row.

But I just never stopped to think that anyone could get confused with the instructions.

[steev]

Well, there you are; I was unsure whether you were actually asking what I'd do (hence my questions about the client), or being snotty about someone else (I put no negative import on the latter; people who stifle the occasional snotty impulse are emotionally stunted and prone to autoimmune disorders); sometimes life is frustrating, and one must blow the turmoil out one end or the other. Repression is a double-edged sword.

I have so many stories about the dumbassitude of employees, and no fewer about myself, I fear. Seems to be the human condition; we are imperfect creatures, and can only try to keep that in mind.

Tomato-picking problems? Don't get me started on nuclear energy/weapons. People are running all this stuff. Frankly, I prefer much less high-tech systems; more margin for error; less longevity for screw-ups; makes sense to me. I realize it involves population control, but why is that a bad thing; because reproduction is ordained by god? You mean like your cancer or knee deterioration? I assume those are also not to be addressed by scientific medicine and surgery, since those would seem to be attempts to avoid the will of god that you suffer.

[synergy]

Funny I much enjoyed this thread. Sorry my comment is likely too late and off track but I know if given those instructions, I would imagine it would be because they are to be served as a platter of tomatoes drizzled in balsalmic and basil and the sizes and colours and I would pick to vary as much as possible, so they would look sort of like a rainbow laid out in slices . I think I saw that in a magazine and was impressed .
Don't you love how the others brains just ran with it ?

[steev]

There you go: land-race thinking, multiple results. I so love a platter of various tomato slices, mozzarella, basil, a drizzle of olive oil and balsamic; not Heaven, but pretty damned good!