Man couldn't get a janitor job because he didn't have an e-mail address

Sometimes what may seem like a negative development, may actually open a door for an opportunity to build a new life.

An unemployed man, desperate to provide for his family applied for a job at a multinational company as a janitor.

He was refused the job because he was too poor to own a computer, or have an e-mail account - but it turned out to be the luckiest day of his life.

APPLYING FOR A JOB AS A JANITOR

An unemployed man was desperate to support his family. His options limited, he applied for a janitor’s job at a large company and easily passed the aptitude test.

The human resources manager told him: “You will be hired at a minimum wage of $5.05 an hour. Let me know your e-mail address so that we can get you in the loop. Our system will automatically e-mail you all the forms, and advise you when to start and where to report on your first day.”

But the man pointed out that he was too poor to afford a computer, and that therefore he didn’t have an e-mail address.

NO E-MAIL, NO JOB AS A JANITOR

The manager replied icily: “Surely you must realize that to a company like ours, not having an e-mail address means that you virtually cease to exist. Without e-mail, you can hardly expect to be employed by a hi-tech firm. Good day.”

Stunned and dismayed, the man left. Not knowing which way to turn and with just $10 left in his wallet, he walked past a market wholesaler and saw a trader selling 25lb crates of beautiful red tomatoes.

So he bought a crate, carried it to a busy street corner and began selling them. In less than two hours he sold all the tomatoes and made a 100 percent profit. Repeating the process several more times a day, he finished up with nearly $100 and arrived home that night with several bags of groceries for his hungry family.

STARTING A NEW BUSINESS ON $10

Not surprisingly, he decided to repeat the tomato business the next day, and by working long hours he quickly multiplied his profits. By the second week he had invested in a cart and two weeks later he bought a broken-down pickup truck. At the end of the year, he owned three trucks.

His two sons had left their neighborhood gangs to help him with the tomato business, his wife was buying the tomatoes, and his daughter was taking night courses in accountancy at the local college so that she could keep his books.

GROWING A LITTLE BUSINESS INTO BIG MONEY

After five years, he owned a fleet of trucks and warehouse, which his wife supervised, plus two tomato farms managed by the boys. The tomato company’s payroll gave work to hundreds of homeless and jobless people. His daughter reported that the business grossed a million dollars.

Planning for the future, he decided to buy some life insurance and, with the help of an insurance adviser, he picked a plan that suited his newfound wealth. Then the adviser asked him for his e-mail address in order to send the final documents electronically.

SUCCESS AND AFFLUENCE - WITHOUT AN E-MAIL

When the man replied that he didn’t have time to mess with a computer and had no e-mail address, the insurance advisor was stunned. “What? No computer? No Internet? No e-mail? Just think where you would be today if you’d had all of that five years ago!”

“Ha!” snorted the man. “If I’d had e-mail five years ago, I would be sweeping floors at a multinational computer company and making $5.05 an hour.”

INVESTIGATING A FARMER LABOR INFRACTIONS

A man owned a small ranch near Sheridan, Wyoming. The Wyoming Labor Department got a tip that he was not paying proper wages to his help and sent an investigator out to interview him.

“I need a list of your employees and how much you pay them,” demanded the investigator.

“Well,” replied the rancher, “there’s my ranch hand who’s been with me for 3 years. I pay him $1200 a week plus free room and board."

"The cook has been here for 18 months, and I pay her $1000 per week plus free room and board."

"Then there’s the half-wit. He works about 18 hours every day, with no days off, and does about 90% of all the work around here. He makes about $10 per week and pays his own room and board."

"But, I buy him a bottle of bourbon every Saturday night, and he also sleeps with my wife occasionally.”

“That’s the guy I want to talk to… the half-wit,” says the investigator.

“You’re talking to him,” replied the rancher.

In a related story, a man wanted to buy something special for his wife on their anniversary, but things took a strange turn.