From the annals of misunderstood idioms, Business Insider brings us an email from a guy applying to be a Wall Street trader. He was asked to add a bit of color to his application, so he sent back a reply with various sections highlighted in different colors.
This reminds me of a new guy who was hired to work for me back when I ran a Radio Shack store in the early 80s (hiring was done by a central office in each district, so I hadn’t met him before). He dropped in to introduce himself, and I told him I wanted him to come in from 10 to 6 the next day. When I showed up at 9:30, he was already waiting. “You didn’t need to come early,” I said. “I’m just going to do a bit of paperwork before I open the store.”
“Early?” he asked. “You told me to come in at 10 to 6.” Turns out he had been waiting in the parking lot for me since 5:50 am. This wasn’t my fault or anything, but I’ve always felt a little bad about it ever since.
