Brain Teasers
Poor Delivery
A Denver company ordered some goods from a European supplier. The American firm was very precise in stating the dates on which it wanted the deliveries to occur. However, the European company, which generally had a high reputation for dependability, missed every delivery date by at least one month. Some shipments were very early and others were very late. Why?
Hint
The misunderstanding was based on a problem with written communication. Each company followed exactly the same written instructions but interpreted them differently.Answer
The U.S. company stated its required delivery dates in its usual date format, i.e., month/day/year. The European date company read the dates as European date format, i.e., day/month/year. So, if the American company asked for a delivery on the 5th day of July 1995, shown as 7/5/95, the European company would deliver the 7/5/95 shipment on the 7th of May.Hide Hint Show Hint Hide Answer Show Answer
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