JOSHUA TIME 554

New version of an old story, but it does have a good moral to it.>>>>>>>> The Tomato Company>>>> An unemployed man is desperate to support his family of a wife and >> three kids. He applies for a janitor's job at a large firm and easily >> passes an aptitude test.>>>> The human resources manager tells him, "You will be hired at >> minimum wage of $5.15 an hour. Let me have your e-mail address so that we >> can get you in the loop. Our system will automatically e-mail you all the >> forms and advise you when to start and where to report on your first day.>>>> Taken back, the man protests that he is poor and has neither a >> computer nor an e-mail address. To this the manager replies, "You must >> understand that to a company like ours that means that you virtually do >> not exist.>>>> Without an e-mail address you can hardly expect to be employed by a >> high-tech firm. Good day.">>>> Stunned, the man leaves. Not knowing where to turn and having $10 >> in his wallet, he walks past a farmers' market and sees a stand selling >> 25lb crates of beautiful red tomatoes. He buys a crate, carries it to a >> busy corner and displays the tomatoes. In less than 2 hours he sells all >> the tomatoes and makes 100% profit.>>>> Repeating the process several times more that day, he ends up with >> almost $100 and arrives home that night with several bags of groceries >> for his family.>>>> During the night he decides to repeat the tomato business the next >> day. By the end of the week he is getting up early every day and working >> into the night. He multiplies his profits quickly. Early in the second >> week he acquires a cart to transport several boxes of tomatoes at a time, >> but before a month is up he sells the cart to buy a broken-down pickup >> truck.>>>> At the end of a year he owns three old trucks. His two sons have >> left their neighborhood gangs to help him with the tomato business, his >> wife is buying the tomatoes, and his daughter is taking night courses at >> the community college so she can keep books for him.>>>> By the end of the second year he has a dozen very nice used trucks >> and employs fifteen previously unemployed people, all selling tomatoes. >> He continues to work hard.>>>> Time passes and at the end of the fifth year he owns a fleet of >> nice trucks and a warehouse that his wife supervises, plus two tomato >> farms that the boys manage. The tomato company's payroll has put hundreds >> of homeless and jobless people to work. His daughter reports that the >> business grossed a million dollars.>>>> Planning for the future, he decides to buy some life insurance.>>>> Consulting with an insurance adviser, he picks an insurance plan to >> fit his new circumstances. Then the adviser asks him for his e-mail >> address in order to send the final documents electronically.>>>> When the man replies that he doesn't have time to mess with a >> computer and has no e-mail address, the insurance man is stunned, "What, >> you don't have e-mail? No computer? No Internet? Just think where you >> would be today if you'd had all of that five years ago!>>>> "Ha!" snorts the man. "If I'd had e-mail five years ago I would be >> sweeping floors at Microsoft and making $5.15 an hour.">>>> Which brings us to the moral:>>>> Since you got this story by e-mail, you're probably closer to being >> a janitor than a millionaire.>>>> Sadly, I received it also.>>