TestDeveloper.com

Source:  Patent Place USA

Several key company employees are gathered in a room to hear Amy, the HR manager, announce a new policy regarding travel.

[HR MANAGER AMY]:  God forbid that we all die together in a plane crash.  So we have a new company policy that restricts us from travelling together in the same vehicle. When I say vehicle, I mean plane, train, bus, ship, car, whatever…

[CEO STEVE]:  How are we going to arrange this?  We have an important trade show to attend next week and all of us need to be there.

[HR MANAGER AMY]:  We hired an on-site travel agent to handle the arrangements. Betty?

[TRAVEL AGENT BETTY]: Thanks Amy. It’s really quite simple.  Steve, since you are the CEO, you will have exclusive flying rights to the company’s air shuttle.  Diane, since you are the head of marketing, we will book you first class on any major airline.  Tony, since you are head of sales, we will book you first class on any airline too, but not the same airline as Diane.  Finally, Robert, since you are the head of research and technology, you too will have to travel separately.  We are well aware of your fear of flying so you have first choice of any alternate mode of travel, such as a first-class train, limo, rent-a-car, etc.  Amy, you will have priority tothe company car.

[TEST DEVELOPER JOHN]: Excuse me.  What about me?

[HR MANAGER AMY]:  Who are you?

[TEST DEVELOPER JOHN]:  John.  I am the test developer.

Travel agent Betty begins searching her itineraries for John’s name.

[TRAVEL AGENT BETTY]: John, John, John…oh, yes, John.  Here we go.  We have you listed here.  You will be traveling with the greyhound.

[TEST DEVELOPER JOHN]:  Oh, you mean I will be taking the greyhound bus?

[TRAVEL AGENT BETTY]:  No.  You will be traveling with the company’s mascot, Sparky the Greyhound Dog.

[HEAD OF RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY ROBERT]:  That’s right, John.  We patented a special monkey harness that fits the complex, narrow framework of a greyhound dog.  Since you are test monkey, we figured that this is the best way to test the invention before it goes to production.

[CEO STEVE]:  We are talking billions in potential revenue.  Billions.

[TEST DEVELOPER JOHN]:  Ok.  I’ll do it for the company.

So John rode around the country on the back of a greyhound dog, testing the monkey saddle.  John thought he was doing the right thing.  He later learned, however, that the whole job was nothing more than a practical joke.  The dog was even an insider to the joke.  The dog left John for dead in the bowels of Death Valley several miles north of Highway 190 sometime around noon.  The moral of this story is never trust people who want you to test a monkey saddle on a greyhound dog.  Testing 101.