Expensive Mark
Charles Steinmetz retired from General Electric after a lifelong career. Later, a system breakdown had GE engineers stumped, so they called on Steinmetz as a consultant. After inspecting the machinery at length, he marked an “X” on a defective part and billed GE for $10,000. The company protested, asking for an itemization. Steinmetz’s reply read simply:
| Making one chalk mark | $1 |
| Knowing where to place it | $9,999 |