One of my friends works as a manager in Bank of Texas. Recently he conducted an interview for a position of bank clerk. All the candidates were happened to be female Texas Assamese and he narrated the following to me.
This position required interaction with the customers and since the customers might find it difficult to pronounce the lengthy Indian name they decided to abbreviate the candidate names and accordingly assigned the name ANNA, GITA, JONI and POLA respectively. My friend called the first candidate ANNA.
ANNA possessed a degree of master of literature and also worked as freelance journalist. She had wide range of experience as evident from her writing and interaction with politician, social worker, film stars. Not knowing what to ask, my manager friend decided to ask a very simple question How much is two and two. ANNA was least prepared for this type of question, she posed for a moment wondering what this all about and then tried to figure out if there was any hidden meaning behind it. She kept aside her stylish Ray Ban glass, closed her eye, thinking over and over, and came out with the answer two and two is twenty-two. The manager did not know what to say, and finally decided to thank ANNA for appearing for the interview and called the next candidate.
GITA was a computer specialist and considered as domain expert in wireless handheld devices. The manager decided to continue with the same question and asked her How much is two and two. GITA took out her slide rulers and started working on them. Not satisfied, she decided to feed her observation on her Blackberry handheld and downloaded the slides and put them to the Blackberrys big number utility. Blackberry started responding with a green light indicating the result. Satisfied, GITA declared It is between 3.9999999 to 4.000001. Meanwhile my manager friend was totally amazed by this tiny device, he was gazing at the slick Blackberry throughout and was wondering how much that little monster could do. Absolutely, there is no doubt about it, GITA again replied asserting her answer. May be, Could be, the manager could murmur only these words and decided to call the next.
JONI had a degree of Doctor of Philosophy and performed her research primarily on neuro psychology. The manager asked the question How much is two and two. JONI listened attentively to the question. Holding her elbow over the table and keeping her face on her thumb, she started giving full concentration. JONI was totally engrossed in her thought. There was pin drop silence in the room, it seemed time was frozen for a moment. Suddenly silence was broken and here came the reply If the set of synapses connecting the neurons in the human brain are stimulated and they pass the right signal in the right time and if the activation function of neurons filters the signal to the desired output, one can expect the response to the question to be four. The manager was flabbergasted, could not say anything except shaking his head indicating that he was listening. My manager friend thought that it would ! be an easy interview but it turned out to be enduring and exhilarating as the day progressed. Drops of sweet were clearly visible in his forehead. He took a deep breath, emptied the glass of water, loosened his tie knob and called the final candidate.
POLA was an accountant by profession. She worked at Enron before that accounting scandal broke out and considered as specialist in bookkeeping and fixing it. The manager continued with the same question and asked her How much is two and two. POLA got up, went to the door and closed it ensuring that no one could listen to the conversion, came back, sat down , leaned against the table and told in a slow voice Tell me, Mr. Manager, what you want it to be. My friend astonished at first, was overjoyed Congratulation Ms. POLA, you are hired.
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