General enter it and see a full bathtub of water and a table with fork, spoon and a cup.
"What this for?"
"You see", explains doctor, "When we get a new recruit, we ask him to empty a bathtub. If he try to do it with a fork, we send him as a simple grunt to an infantry, ones who try to use a spoon are promoted to private 2nd class.
"And ones who use a cup are sent to officer school?" smiles general.
"Yes, sir" – answer doctor. – "But to be a sergeant you have to pull the plug".
Joke Poo: The Coding Interview
A grizzled old CTO, famous for building successful startups, is visiting a trendy new coding bootcamp. It’s all open-plan workspaces, standing desks, and kombucha on tap. They even have a “problem-solving evaluation room.”
The CTO enters and sees a whiteboard with a single coding challenge written on it: “Implement a function to sort a list of integers.” Next to the board are three objects: a crayon, a Java IDE, and a copy of “Algorithms” by Robert Sedgewick.
“What’s this all about?” the CTO asks the bootcamp instructor.
“Well,” the instructor explains, “when we get a new applicant, we ask them to solve this sorting problem. If they try to do it with a crayon (like, visually represent the sorting algorithm) we send them to the UX design track. Those who jump straight into the Java IDE are put on the backend engineering team.”
“And the ones who grab Sedgewick’s ‘Algorithms’ are destined for management?” the CTO quips, smirking.
“Yes, exactly!” the instructor replies enthusiastically. “But to be a truly valuable employee, they need to realize they can just use the built-in ‘sort’ function.”
Okay, let’s dissect this joke.
Joke Breakdown:
- Setup: A war-scarred general visits a modern army training base with a psychological evaluation facility.
- Premise: The evaluation involves emptying a bathtub with a fork, spoon, or cup. The method chosen supposedly indicates potential and is used for career placement.
- Punchline: The general assumes using a cup means officer material. The doctor reveals the real solution: pulling the plug, the act of a sergeant (someone who uses common sense).
- Humor Type: This is primarily situational irony and a bit of observational humor. The humor comes from the unexpected, practical solution juxtaposed against the elaborate, psychological assessment framework. It also pokes fun at the military’s hierarchical structure and the perceived disconnect between academic theories and real-world problem-solving.
Key Elements:
- The Tub/Water: Represents the problem/task.
- Fork/Spoon/Cup: Represent inefficient methods, symbolizing different levels of problem-solving skills.
- General: Represents the traditional, experience-driven military view.
- Doctor/Psychological Evaluation: Represents the modern, theoretical approach.
- Sergeant/Plug: Represents the practical, common-sense solution and the position of someone who understands this best.
Comedic Enrichment – Joke Enhancement & New Content:
Focusing on the Practicality/Efficiency Aspect:
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Observation: “You know, they should add an economics major to the evaluation. Someone who sees the bathtub and immediately thinks, ‘Why waste time with utensils? Let’s just shut off the water main.'”
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“Did You Know?” (Playing on the absurdity of the tools): “Did you know that the bathtub test was almost scrapped because the army couldn’t decide on the official fork? Apparently, there was a heated debate between the spork contingent and the classic dinner fork purists. The spork camp argued for its versatility, while the purists insisted that a true leader should be able to command any situation, even if it means navigating a bathtub with the ‘right’ tool for the job.”
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New Joke:
A software engineer is brought in to consult on the army’s bathtub evaluation. He watches the recruits struggling with forks and spoons.
“This is ridiculous,” he says to the doctor. “Why aren’t they using recursion?”
The doctor looks confused. “Recursion? What’s that?”
The engineer smiles. “It’s simple. You use the cup to bail out some water, then you make a new, smaller bathtub, then you call the same method again.”
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Witty Observation (Regarding the general): “You can tell the general’s war-scarred – he probably emptied plenty of foxholes with just his helmet. He sees the modern army training, and thinks its gone a bit ‘soft’.”
The common thread is that by highlighting the absurdity of emptying a bathtub by any means other than pulling the plug, we can highlight the ridiculousness of the situation and create additional humor. We can also add a layer of humor by contrasting the traditional military mindset with the more modern and intellectual mindset.