“Did it save time?”

From Life is a Joke, 100 Life Lessons by John and Gordon Javna.  

—9— Efficiency Expert

“There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all.”

—Peter F. Drucker

An efficiency expert concluded his lecture to a group of business leaders with a note of caution: “You need to be careful about trying these techniques at home.”

“Why?” asked a man in the audience.

“Well,” the expert explained, “I watched my wife’s routine at dinner for years. She made lots of trips between the refrigerator, stove, table, and cabinets, often carrying a single item at a time. One day I told her, ‘You’re wasting too much time. Why don’t you try carrying several things at once?’ ”

“Did it save time?” the guy in the audience asked.

“Actually, yes,” replied the expert. “It used to take her twenty minutes to make dinner. Now I do it in ten.”