BUYING TIME
A man came home from work late again, tired, irritated, and stressed, to find his 6-year-old son waiting for him at the door.
“Daddy, may I ask you a question?”
“Yeah, sure, what is it?” replied the man.
“Daddy, how much money do you make an hour?”
“That is none of your business! What makes you ask such a question?” the man said irritatingly.
“Oh, I just want to know. Please tell me, how much do you make an hour?” pleaded the little boy.
“Well, if you must know, I make $20.00 an hour.”
“Oh,” the little boy replied, head bowed. Looking up, he said, “Daddy, may I barrow $10.00 please?”
The father was irritated. “If the only reason you want to know how much money I make is so you can barrow some for a dopey toy or other nonsense, then off to your room and think about your selfishness. And besides, you’re only 6 years old, and 6 year-olds don’t need money. I work long, hard hours every day to earn money for you and your mom, I don’t have time to talk about loaning you money”.
The little boy went quietly to his room and shut the door.
After about an hour, the father had calmed down, and started to think he may have been a little hard on his son. Maybe there really was a reason he needed to barrow $10.00, he had never asked before for money. The father went to the boy’s room and knocked on the door. “May I come in?” inquired the father.
“Yes Daddy,” replied the little boy.
“I have been thinking, maybe I was too hard on you earlier,” said the man. “It has been a long, tough day and I took my anger out on you. Here’s the $10.00 you asked for.”
The little boy sat up straight and beaming said “Oh thank you Daddy!” Then, reaching under his pillow, he pulled out some crumpled up dollars. The father seeing that the boy already had money started to get angry again. The little boy slowly started to count out his money, then looked up at his father.
“Why did you want more money if you already had some?” the father grumbled.
“Because I didn’t have enough, but now I do,” the little boy replied.
“For what,” said his father.
“Daddy, I have $20.00 now. Can I buy an hour of your time?”
— Author Unknown