The manager at the biker bar known as the Stumble Inn had what he considered to be the world’s strongest man working as his bouncer. In fact, the bouncer was so tough, the manager actually used the brute to make money on the side with a little bet he had contrived over the years.  

The manager was so sure that his bouncer was the strongest man around that he offered a standing $1000 bet: the bouncer would squeeze a lemon until he could get no more juice from it. If a patron of the bar could then get another drop out of that same lemon, he’d win the thousand dollars.

Over the years, many men had tried…and failed. Weightlifters, lumberjacks, other bouncers! Nobody could do it.

One afternoon, a scrawny little man came in wearing thick glasses and a business suit. After getting his seat and noticing the sign announcing the challenge, he told the manager, “I’d like to try the bet.”

After the laughter had died down, the manager called his bouncer over, handed him a lemon, and told him to squeeze away. When the bouncer had rung the lemon wedge all he could, he turned the pulpy remains over to the little man.

The small man clenched his fist around the lemon and wrung an impressive four more drops from the lemon slice.  

The crowd cheered the little guy, and the incredulous bartender paid him the promised $1000. Totally perplexed, the bartender asked the first-ever winner, “What do you do for a living? Are you a black belt karate instructor? A construction worker? What?”

The man grinned. “I work for the IRS. We never have any trouble squeezing out the very last drops.”

Topics Illustrated Include:
Assumption
Bet
Competition
Confidence
IRS
Money
Surprise
Taxes

(Resource cataloged by David R Smith)