The Man Who Was Happy To Do The Job

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🍂 The Twenty-Dollar Job

A neighbor once said, “Would you rake my lawn? It’s a twenty-dollar job.”

The fellow thought for a moment, then said, “I’ll do it for ten.”

“You will?” the neighbor blinked. That was not at all the man’s reputation.

“I don’t have to tell you twice,” the fellow replied. “I’m a man of my word, and that is my reputation.”

So the neighbor nervously lifted a ten-dollar bill from his wallet and handed it over.

“Good,” the fellow said, pocketing the bill. “The job is now halfway done.”

“Halfway?” the neighbor asked.

“Indeed. You see that fellow across the street? He’s the sort of man who will rake your lawn for ten dollars. He’ll get every leaf. So here’s how it works: you give him ten, he finishes the raking, and the whole twenty-dollar job is complete.”

The neighbor squinted. “Why is it a twenty-dollar job if he only charges ten?”

The man grinned. “Because the other ten is knowing which man to ask. And I just did that part. That’s why I’m keeping the ten.”

Now, I could have crossed the street myself and asked his neighbor to do the job, but that would’ve been awkward. Better for him if his dignity stayed polished. 

So I told him: “Why don’t you take the idea across the street? Tell your neighbor you’ll pay him. He’ll clear your yard, your pride will stay intact, and I’ll only charge you ten dollars for sparing you the embarrassment of my involvement.”

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Moral:

Half the price of any job is the labor. The other half is the wit to know who ought to be doing it.

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🍂 The Twenty-Dollar Job (Part II)

Now, that neighbor thought he’d stumbled onto genius. But word travels faster in Lemon County than a mule chasing supper.

He went up the block with his ten dollars ready, and every single neighbor told him the same thing: “I’ll do it for ten. The job’s halfway done. You see that fellow across the street…”

By sundown, he had made the full tour, wallet lighter with every stop. And at last, with twelve houses behind him and twelve identical lectures on “who to ask,” he stood in his own yard, rake in hand.

He raked his own leaves. It cost him a total of $120.

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Moral:

The man who pays everyone else to be clever will find himself the poorest worker in town, with the cleanest lawn.

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📝 Demonstrated Management Competence

By the time he had raked his own leaves for $120, the neighbors were already bragging on him.

“Why, that’s a man with vision,” they said. “He didn’t just do the work — he mobilized resources, coordinated stakeholders, and invested in community partnerships.”

The fellow himself stood there blistered and broke, but the official record showed otherwise: demonstrated management competence.

Moral

If you can pay twelve men to tell you the job is half-done, you’re not a fool — you’re a manager.

🏦 From Competence to Excellence

They called it demonstrated management competence when the man spent $120 to rake his own lawn. But that was nothing compared to what came next.

For his encore, he borrowed the money from the bank so he could keep paying out ten dollars at a time. Each trip around the block, the banker tagged along, tipping his hat and collecting interest as regular as sunrise.

By the time the leaves were finally gone, the lawn was spotless, the neighbors were richer, the banker was fatter, and the man himself was deeper in debt than the county fair’s pie-eating champion.

Naturally, this was recorded as management excellence.

Moral (Twain-style):

Competence is paying too much for your own work. Excellence is borrowing the money first and paying even more for the privilege.