I met a little man upon the stairs

A little man who was not there.
I met him again today
Oh how I wish
He'd go away

I like this.

From The London Times:


A Well-Planned Retirement


Outside England 's Bristol Zoo there is a parking lot
for 150 cars and 8 buses. For 25 years, its
parking fees were managed by a very pleasant
attendant. The fees were £1 for cars ($1.40),
£5 for busses (about $7).
Then, one day, after 25 solid years of never missing
a day of work, he just didn't show up; so the Zoo
Management called the City Council and asked it
to send them another parking agent.
The Council did some research and replied that the
parking lot was the Zoo's own responsibility.
The Zoo advised the Council that the attendant was
a City employee.
The City Council responded that the lot attendant
had never been on the City payroll.
Meanwhile, sitting in his villa somewhere on the coast of Spain
(or some such scenario), is a man who'd apparently had a
ticket machine installed completely on his own; and then
had simply begun to show up every day, commencing
to collect and keep the parking fees, estimated at about
$560 per day -- for 25 years.
Assuming 7 days a week, this amounts to just over
$7 million dollars!
.....
And no one even knows his name.

Hat tip to Bill T!

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