calibra

Three contractors ... one from Italy, another from Australia and the third from Vietnam are bidding to repair the Parliament House fence. They go with a Parliamentary official to examine the fence.

The Australian contractor takes out a tape measure and does
some measuring, then works some figures with a pencil. "Well," he
says."I figure the job will run $900 . ... $400 for materials, $400 for
labor and $100 profit for me."

The Vietnamese contractor also does some measuring and
figuring then says, "I can do this job for $700 . . $300 for
materials, $300 for my crew and $100 profit for me."

The Italian contractor doesn't measure or figure, but leans
over to the official and whispers: "$2,700."
The official, incredulous, says, "You didn't even measure like
the other guys! How did you come up with such a high figure?"
"Easy," the Italian explains, "$1,000 for you, $1,000 for me and we
hire the guy from Vietnam to do the work."

__________________