A group of Electrical Engineering students from Alabama and Auburn started their first day in a co-op job with Alabama Power. They spend the entire day filling out paperwork and going to orientation sessions and then at the end of the day, their boss tells them to wear clothes that they don't mind getting dirty the next day.
The next morning, the co-op students met up with their boss. He decided that the rivalry might be a good motivational tool, so he organized them into two teams, one of the Alabama students and one of the Auburn students. He then told them, "Each team has 20 power poles and I'm eager to see which team, the Tide or the Tigers, can put them in the ground the fastest. The Tide team will work highway 26 west of the new substation and the Tiger team will work east of the new substation. Are there any questions?"
No-one said a word.
"Good. Now go and let's see who is the best."
At about 4:30 that afternoon the Tide crew came in, sweating and tired. "Looks like you guys did it," said the boss. Several hours passed and the boss told the Tide crew to go home and he'd see them the next morning.
The next morning, the Tide crew arrives and the Tiger crew still hasn't gotten back so the boss loaded up everyone and they went to find the Tiger crew. They found them about a half-mile east of the substation with only 4 poles left on their truck, but there were no poles to be seen along the road. The boss jumped off the truck and approached them. "Where's the other poles? What have you guys been doing? The Tide crew finished yesterday and you guys are still not finished?""
One of the Auburn crew puffed his chest and said. "Of course they finished yesterday. We saw their shoddy work. They left more than half of each pole sticking out of the ground."
