The Coffin Broker

5X-Mom blogged about how they picked coffins for the deceased.

I am reminded of one amusing story related by an old friend.

The broker who acts between buyers and the coffin-maker uses a signal to tell how much to charge a particular customer. Genuine poor folks are charged less while the rich are quoted with more exorbitant prices. The broker would bring a customer into the shop and show him around and helps him pick a coffin. When the customer shows interest in any particular piece, the broker would start talking about how good and beautiful that piece is and keeps patting on it as he speaks. The coffin maker would keep counting the number of times he pats on it and multiply that by RM1000. That will determine the cost of the coffin to this particular customer and the amount of commission the broker gets.

It so happened there was this new broker who got carried away by his enthusiasm while trying to get one customer to look at a beautiful coffin he particularly liked. He kept patting on the thing and forgot to count the number of times he was supposed to pat it. After the customer made his decision he wanted to know what was the cost. The coffin maker then pulled the broker aside and asked him quietly, “Hey, friend. How many times did you actually pat on this thing? By rough estimate this guy must be so damn rich!!!”