Only The Best And The Brightest
Things had not gone well so far for the three new detective recruits... To test their skills in recognizing a suspect, The Chief shows the first detective a picture for five seconds and then hides it. "OK... This is your suspect, how would you recognize him?" The first guy answers, "That's easy, we'll catch him fast because he only has one eye!" The Chief yells, "You bozo! The picture only shows his PROFILE." Flustered and discouraged by this ridiculous response, he flashes the picture for five seconds at the second guy and asks him, "This is your suspect, how would you recognize him?" "Ha! C'mon Chief, he'd be too easy to catch because he only has one ear!" Angrily The Chief bellows, "What's the matter with you two? Of course only one eye and one ear are showing because it's a picture of his PROFILE! Get it? PROFILE!! Is that the best answer you can come up with?" Extremely frustrated at this point, he shows the picture to the third guy and asks, "OK, This is your suspect, how would you recognize him?" The Chief quickly adds, "... and THINK hard before giving me an answer." The guy looks at the picture intently for a moment and says, "Hmmmm... the suspect wears contact lenses." The Chief is surprised and speechless because he really doesn't know himself if the suspect wears contacts or not. "Well that is an interesting answer... wait here a few minutes while I check this file and I'll get back to you on that." He leaves the room and goes into his office, checks the suspect's file in his computer, and comes back with a beaming smile on his face. "Wow, I can't believe it.. It's true! The suspect does in fact wear contacts. Good Work! How were you able to make such an brilliant observation?" "Aw, Chief, that's easy," the guy replied. "Ya see, this perp can't wear regular glasses because he only has one eye and one ear."
Originally published November 14, 2002.
