George was very stingy. He hated spending money.#
Whenever he had to buy something he always argued about the price and tried to
bargain, even for the cheapest things.#
If he wanted to buy a can of Coke, for example, and the shopkeeper asked for
$2, George would say, "Make it $1.90 and I'll buy it."#
Sometimes the shopkeepers agreed to reduce their prices a little. "What's ten
cents?" they asked themselves. "If it make this man happy, then it won't hurt
me very much."#
In this way George saved a few cents here and a few cents there, and by the
end of the year he had saved several hundred dollars.#
One day he had a very bad toothache and had to go to the dentist. The dentist
looked at the tooth and said, "This tooth will have to come out. It's too
damaged to save."#
"How much do you charge to take out a tooth?" George asked.#
"Forty dollars," the dentist said.#
"Forty dollars!" George thought this was much too expensive.#
"How long will it take you to pull out the tooth?" he asked.#
"About two minutes," the dentist said.#
George could not believe what he was hearing. "Forty dollars for two minutes'
work!" he shouted. "That's robbery."#
The dentist smiled. "You're right." She said. "Thank you for telling me. I'll
pull your tooth out very slowly. How about if I take half an hour?"&