How Tall

Once, an engineer, a physicist and a safety officer all applied for the same job. The person interviewed all three, and thought all were excellent. He had to think of some way to find the best person. So he told them all to come back the next day and tell him the exact height of the building. The one who was closest would get the job.

The physicist went to the top of the building, and dropped iron balls to the ground, and had his friend timed the balls. He did this several times.

The engineer got out a sextant, and computed ratios of a yardstick to the building, etc.

The next day, the manager asks all three of them to tell how tall the building is.

"75 feet, 2.8 inches" says the physicist.

"76 feet, 4.1 inches" says the engineer.

"75 feet, 8.4 inches" says the safety officer.

"My God!" said the manager, "the safety officer got it exactly correct! How did you manage that?"

"Well", said the safety officer, "I went down to planning department and looked up the height in the building records."