If it isn't true, it should be.
>A complaint was received by the Pontiac Division of General Motors:
>
>"This is the second time I have written you, and I don't blame you >for not
answering me, because I kind of sounded crazy, but it is a >fact that we
have a tradition in our family of ice cream for dessert >after dinner each
night. But the kind of ice cream varies so, every >night, after we've eaten,
the whole family votes on which kind of ice >cream we should have and I
drive down to the store to get it. It's
>also a fact that I recently purchased a new Pontiac and since then my
>trips to the store have created a problem. You see, every time I buy
>vanilla ice cream, when I start back from the store my car won't
>start. If I get any other kind of ice cream, the car starts just >fine. I
want you to know I'm serious about this question, no matter >how silly it
sounds: 'What is there about a Pontiac that makes it not
>start when I get vanilla ice cream, and easy to start whenever I get >any
other kind?'"
>
>The Pontiac President was understandably skeptical about the letter, >but
sent an engineer to check it out anyway. The latter was surprised >to be
greeted by a successful, obviously well-educated man in a fine
>neighborhood. He had arranged to meet the man just after dinner time, >so
the two hopped into the car and drove to the ice cream store. It >was
vanilla ice cream that night and, sure enough, after they came >back to the
car, it wouldn't start.
>
>The engineer returned for three more nights. The first night, the >man got
chocolate. The car started. The second night, he got >strawberry. The car
started. The third night he ordered vanilla.
>The car failed to start.
>
>Now the engineer, being a logical man, refused to believe that this >man's
car was allergic to vanilla ice cream. He arranged, therefore, >to continue
his visits for as long as it took to solve the >problem. And toward this end
he began to take notes: he jotted down >all sorts of data, time of day, type
of gas used, time to drive back >and forth, etc.
>
>In a short time, he had a clue: the man took less time to buy >vanilla than
any other flavor. Why? The answer was in the layout of >the store.
>
>Vanilla, being the most popular flavor, was in a separate case at >the
front of the store for quick pickup. All the other flavors were >kept in the
back of the store at a different counter where it took >considerably longer
to find the flavor and get checked out.
>
>Now the question for the engineer was why the car wouldn't start >when it
took less time. Once time became the problem -- not the >vanilla ice
cream -- the engineer quickly came up with the answer:
>vapor lock. It was happening every night, but the extra time taken to >get
the other flavors allowed the engine to cool down sufficiently to >start.
When the man got vanilla, the engine was still too hot for the
>vapor lock to dissipate.
>
>Moral of the story: even insane-looking problems are sometimes real.
>
Randall M. Potter HTTP://Psy1.clarion.edu/rp/homeremedy.html
Department of Psychology
Clarion University of Pennsylvania
Clarion, PA 16214
FAX: (814) 226-2438
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