The Man Who Sold Hot Dogs

The Man Who Sold Hot Dogs
Author Unknown. Found on an old newsletter from Dale Carnegie Courses.

There was a man who lived by the side of the road and sold hot dogs.

He was hard of hearing, so he had no radio. He had trouble with his eyes, so he had no newspapers. But he sold good hot dogs.

He put up a sign on the highway to tell people how good they were. He stood by the side of the road and cried: “Buy a hot dog, Mister?”

And people bought.

He increased meat and bun orders. He bought a bigger stove to take care of his trade. He got his son home from college to help him out. But then something happened.

His son said, “Father, haven’t you been listening to the radio? There is a big depression on. The European situation is terrible. The domestic situation is worse.”

Whereupon the father thought, “Well my son has been to college. He reads the papers and listens to the radio and he ought to know.”

So the father cut down on his meat and bun orders, took down his advertising signs, and no longer bothered to stand out on the highway to sell hot dogs. And his hot dog sales fell almost overnight.

“You are right, son,” the father said to the boy. “We certainly are in the middle of a great depression.”