There was a Midwestern phone company that was going to hire one
team of telephone pole installers and the boss had to choose
between a team of Aggies (Texas A&M) and a team of Irish guys.
So, the boss met with both teams and said: “Here’s what we’ll do.
Each team will be installing poles out on the new road for a day.
The team that installs the most phone poles gets the job.”
Both teams headed right out.
At the end of the shift, the Irish guys came back and the boss
asked them how many they had installed, and they said that it was
tough going, but they’d put in twelve.
Forty-five minutes later, the Aggies came back in and they were
totally exhausted. The boss said, “Well, how many poles did you
guys install?”
The team leader wiped his brow and sighed, “We got three in.”
The boss gasped, “Three? Those Irish guys put in twelve!”
“Yeah,” said the Aggie leader, “but you should see how much they
left sticking out of the ground!”