A young Naval Officer was in a terrible car accident, but due to the heroics of the hospital staff, the only permanent injury was the loss of one ear.
Since he wasn’t physically impaired, he remained in the Navy and eventually became an Admiral. During his career, he was always sensitive about his appearance.
One day, the Admiral was interviewing two Navy Master Chiefs and a Marine Sergeant Major for his personal staff. The first Master Chief was a Surface Navy type, and it was a great interview.
At the end of the interview, the Admiral asked him, “Do you notice anything different about me?”
The Master Chief answered, “I couldn’t help but notice you are missing your starboard ear, so I don’t know whether this impacts your hearing on that side.”
The Admiral got very angry at this lack of tact and threw him out of his office.
The next candidate, an Aviation Master Chief, when asked this same question, answered, “Well, yes, you seem to be short one ear.”
The Admiral threw him out, also.
The third interview was with the Marine Sergeant Major. He was articulate, extremely sharp, and seemed to know more than the two Master Chiefs put together. The Admiral went ahead with the same question.
“Do you notice anything different about me?”
To his surprise, the Sergeant Major said, “Yes, sir, you wear contact lenses.”
The Admiral, impressed, thought to himself, what an incredibly tactful Marine. “And how do you know that?” the Admiral asked.
The Sergeant Major replied, “Well, sir, it’s pretty hard to wear glasses with only one ear.”
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Allan retired in his early 50’s and started a second career.
However, even though he loved his new job, he just couldn’t seem to get to work on time. Every day, he was 5, 10, 15 minutes late.
But he was a good worker and really sharp, so his boss was in a quandary about how to deal with it. Finally, one day, his boss called him into the office for a talk.
“Allan, I must tell you, I truly like your work ethic, you do a bang-up job, but being late for work nearly every day is quite annoying to me as well as your fellow workers.”
Allan replied, “Yes, sir, I know. I’m sorry, but I am working on it.”
“That’s what I like to hear,” his boss said. “However, the fact that you consistently come to work late does puzzle me, because I understand that you retired from the United States Air Force, and they have some pretty rigid rules about tardiness. Isn’t that correct?”
“Yes. I did retire from the Air Force, and I’m mighty proud of it!” said Allan.
“Well, what did they say when you came in late?” asked his boss.
“They said, ‘Good morning, General’.”
