A Deeper Look...

A leading cars provider company received a letter from a man complaining about an absurd problem with his new car. Here goes his letter:

This is the second time I have written you, and I don't blame you for not answering me, because I sounded crazy. I recently purchased a new Pontiac and every night I drive down to a store, to buy ice cream. You see, every time I buy vanilla ice cream and start back from the store my car wouldn’t start. But strangely, if I get any other kind of ice cream, the car starts just fine. I want you to know I'm serious about this question, no matter how silly it sounds: 'What is there about a Pontiac that makes it not start when I get vanilla ice cream, and easy to start whenever I get any other kind?

The Pontiac President was understandably skeptical about the letter, but sent an engineer to check it out anyway. He had arranged to meet the man just after dinner time so the two hopped into the car and drove to the ice cream store. It was vanilla ice cream that night and, sure enough, after they came back to the car, it wouldn't start.

The engineer returned for three more nights. The first night, the man got chocolate. The car started. The second night, he got strawberry. The car started. The third night he ordered vanilla. Much to the engineer’s surprise and annoyance, the car failed to start. Now the engineer, being a logical man, refused to believe that this man's car was allergic to vanilla ice cream. He began to take notes, jotting down all sorts of data, time of day, type of gas used, time to drive back and forth, etc.

In a short time, he had a clue: the man took less time to buy vanilla than any other flavor. The answer was in the layout of the store. Vanilla, being the most popular flavor, was in a separate case at the front of the store for quick pickup. All the other flavors were kept in the back of the store at a different counter where it took considerably longer to find the flavor and get checked out.

Now the question for the engineer was why the car wouldn't start when it took less time. He quickly came up with the answer: vapor lock. The extra time taken to get the other flavors allowed the engine to cool down sufficiently to start. When the man got vanilla, the engine was still too hot for the vapor lock to dissipate.

Moral :- Sometimes we need to take a deeper look, Even absurd problems are sometimes real!

Courtesy: An article contributed by a co-worker in my department’s weekly newsletter