6. The new salesman

One day, the manager of the department went to check how his new salesman was working. He asked the new salesman, "How many customers1 do you have today?" The answer is "One." "Only one? Then how much have you sold today?" "$60,000."

The manager was very surprised, and asked for the reason. The salesman said, "I sold him a fishhook2 first, surely with the fishing pole and fish line. Then I asked him where he was going to fish, he said ‘the south seaside', thus I recommended4 him a boat, and he bought that 6-meter-long motorboat. Later I said that his car might not be able to carry that motorboat, and took him to the Auto division and urged him to buy a truck, he did it."

The manager was very pleased, asked, "It's so great that you can sell so many things to him when he only came for a fishhook!"

The salesman answered, "No, he came to buy a bottle of aspirin for his wife. And I suggested ‘You will be free this weekend! Why not go fishing?'"

Notes:

1. customer 顾客

2. fishhook 钓钩

3. fish line 钓丝

4. recommend 推荐

新来的售货员

百货公司经理核查新售货员的工作情况，问新来的售货员：“你今天有几个顾客？”回答说“一个。”“只有一个吗？那卖了多少钱货物呢？”“6万美元。”

经理大为惊讶，要售货员详细解释。售货员说：“我先卖给他一枚钓钩，接着卖给他钓竿和钓丝。再问他打算去哪里钓鱼，他说到南方海岸去。我说该有艘小船才方便，于是他买了那艘6米长的小汽艇。我又说他的汽车也许拖不动汽艇，于是我带他去汽车部，卖给他一辆大车。”

经理喜出望外，问道：“那人来买一枚钓钩，你竟能向他推销掉那么多东西！”

售货员答道：“不，其实他是来给他老婆买一瓶阿司匹林的。我听他那么说，便给他提建议，‘这个周末你可以自由自在的了。为什么不去钓鱼呢？’”

Useful link:

阿司匹林（Aspirin）诞生于1899年3月6日。早在1853年夏，弗雷德里克·热拉尔（Gerhardt）就用水杨酸与醋酐合成了乙酰水杨酸，但没能引起人们的重视。1898年德国化学家菲霍夫曼又进行了合成，并为他父亲治疗风湿关节炎，疗效极好。1899年由德莱塞介绍到临床，并取名为Aspirin。