[Lone Buggin]

Once upon a time there was a shepherd tending his sheep at the edge of a country road in rural Wyoming. A brand new Ford Excursion screeched to a halt next to him. The driver, a young man dressed in a Brioni suit, Cerrutti
shoes, Ray-Ban glasses, Jovial Swiss wris****ch and a BHS tie, jumped out and asked the herder, "If I guess how many sheep you have, will you give me one of them?"

The shepherd looked at the young man, then looked at the sprawling herd of grazing sheep, shrugged, and said, "OK."

The young man parked the SUV, connected his notebook and wireless modem, entered a NASA site, scanned the pasture using satellite imagery and a GPS, opened a database and 60 Excel tables filled with algorithms, then printed a 150-page report on his high-tech mini-printer. He turned to the herder and said, "You have exactly 1,586 sheep here."

The herder answered, "Well, I’ll be danged - you’re right. Go ahead and pick you out a sheep."

The young man took one of the animals and put it in the back of his vehicle. As he was preparing to drive away, the herder looked at him and asked, "Now, if I guess your line of work, will you pay me back in kind?"

The young man answered, "Sure."

The herder said immediately, "You’re a consultant."

"Exactly! How did you know?" asked the young man incredulously.

"Very simple," replied the shepherd. "First, you came here without being invited. Second, you charged me a fee to tell me something I already knew. Third, you don’t understand a thing about my business - and if you don’t mind,
I'd really like to have my dog back."