After traveling on business, Tim thinks it would be nice to bring his girlfriend a little gift. “How about some perfume?” he asks the cosmetics clerk. She shows him a fifty-dollar bottle.


“That’s a bit much,” says Tim, so she returns with a smaller bottle for thirty dollars.

“That’s still quite a bit,” Tim complains. Growing annoyed, the clerk brings out a tiny fifteen-dollar bottle.

“What I mean,” said Tim, “is I’d like to see something really cheap.” So the clerk handed him a mirror.