3You Cannot Please Everybody
Once there was a man whose job was to operate the elevator of a prestigious building, which was his country's embassy. He was indeed satisfied with his job, finding it so simple yet quite profitable.
But there came a time when the people who took rides in his elevator changed their attitude. It wasn't that they became rude or undisciplined; they just transformed into very busy beings that tried to notice every tick of the clock. Once in a while, the elevator man would be asked, "What time is it?" The elevator man got annoyed of course, for each person he met in the elevator had nothing else more interesting to say. Nevertheless, he did not wish to be fired, so he exhibited self-control and answered the same question over and over, with the help of his watch.
Wanting to please the people, the elevator man bought a clock using his own money. He hung the said clock in the elevator. "Okay, problem solved!" he thought. But, he was wrong. Since then, people kept asking him, "Is that clock displaying the correct time?" He got tired of saying "Yes" all day. So, he needed to think of a better idea than just putting that 'stupid old clock' in the elevator.
The elevator man made a notice, which he stuck under the clock. That paper announced "THE CLOCK IS RIGHT. FOR EVERYONE'S SAKE, I BASED IT ON THE EARTH'S TIME ZONE. YOU CAN TRUST IT. I AM 100 SURE" in red capital letters. So, for months, the elevator man was not bothered by the monotonous inquiries of the people.
Fate was cruel to the elevator man! A student who had just learned about the meridians and who had been given homework bout time zones had the chance to be alone in the elevator with the elevator man. The student said, "I hope you can help me with the other countries' time zones as well, and not only be aware of our country's hour." A cold, expressionless face was the only reply that the boy got from the elevator man.
Our main character was not one to give up. He bought many clocks, as many as the nations of the whole world. He labeled each one of those clocks with a country's name and then set all the hour hands, minute hands, and second hands according to their corresponding time zone. He placed all these clocks inside the elevator and things went pretty well.
But then, an astronaut dreaming to travel to another country boarded the elevator and said to the elevator man, "It would be better if you can tell people what time it is in other planets." The astronaut was provided with the same face which the elevator man showed to the student.
Yet, during his day-off, the elevator man visited a planetarium to learn about the time zones in the other "worlds." He purchased eight more clocks, which he labeled as Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto. He fixed those clocks' time and put them in the elevator as well. No elevator passenger complained.
"What is this?" the general manager yelled to the elevator man. "Why so many clocks? Because of what you've done, only a few people could be in the elevator for the elevator would get overloaded easily! Foolish man! Janitors, dispose of all of these clocks!"
It is up to you now. What would you do if you were the elevator man? Would you let those clocks be thrown away? What would you say to the general manager? You couldn't show him the expressionless face you gave to the astronaut and the student for that would be very rude. Would you quit the job?