OLIVER, David (2011), How to Negotiate Effectively. 3rd ed.

, KoganPage

In a train from Paris to Madrid, one compartment holds four people: a beautiful young girl
travelling with her elderly grandmother, and an old stately general accompanied by a
handsome young second-lieutenant. The foursome is sitting quietly as the train enters a
tunnel in the Pyrenees. It is pitch dark in the tunnel when suddenly the sound of a loud kiss
rings out followed by the even louder sound of a hard smack. When the train comes out the
other end of the tunnel, the four people remain sitting silently without acknowledging the
incident.
The young girl thinks to herself, ‘Boy I enjoyed the wonderful kiss the handsome lieutenant
gave me. But my grandmother slapped him, so I don’t suppose he will dare to try anything
again in the next tunnel. Bother, why did she have to do that?’ The grandmother thinks to
herself, ‘Why that fresh young man! He kissed my granddaughter! But I raised her properly
and she responded by giving him a good hard slap. I’m proud of her, and I know he’ll not try
to kiss her in the next tunnel.’ The general thinks to himself, ‘I can’t get over it. My aide
went
to one of the finest military schools, and I personally handpicked him. With all his training,
he
should have known better than to kiss that young girl. But in the dark, the girl obviously
thought that it was me who kissed her, and I’m the one who got slapped. When we get back
to the base, I’m going to give him a piece of my mind.’ The young lieutenant thinks to
himself:
‘Gosh that was wonderful. How often do you get to kiss a beautiful girl and slap your boss at
the same time!’