This is a true story that I heard from one of my senior at work. An interesting read, especially for engineers and IT engineers. Being a Hardware Support Engineer myself, I can relate a lot of the cases that I have worked on to the situation.
To quote Sherlock Holmes, “When you have eliminated all which is impossible, then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.”
————–
The Pontiac that was Allergic to Vanilla Ice Cream
For the engineers among us who understand that the obvious is not always the solution, and that the facts, no matter how implausible, are still the facts …
A complaint was received by the Pontiac Division of General Motors:
“This is the second time I have written you, and I don’t blame you for not answering me, because I kind of sounded crazy, but it is a fact that we have a tradition in our family of ice cream for dessert after dinner each night. But the kind of ice cream varies so, every night, after we’ve eaten, the whole family votes on which kind of ice cream we should have and I drive down to the store to get it. It’s also a fact that I recently purchased a new Pontiac and since then my trips to the store have created a problem. You see, every time I buy vanilla ice cream, when I start back from the store my car won’t start. If I get any other kind of ice cream, the car starts just fine. I want you to know I’m serious about this question, no matter how silly it sounds: ‘What is there about a Pontiac that makes it not start when I get vanilla ice cream, and easy to start whenever I get any other kind?'”
The Pontiac President was understandably sceptical about the letter, but sent an engineer to check it out anyway. The latter was surprised to be greeted by a successful, obviously well-educated man in a fine neighbourhood. He had arranged to meet the man just after dinner time, so the two hopped into the car and drove to the ice cream store. It was vanilla ice cream that night and, sure enough, after they came back to the car, it wouldn’t start.
The engineer returned for three more nights. The first night, the man got chocolate. The car started. The second night, he got strawberry. The car started. The third night he ordered vanilla. The car failed to start.
Now the engineer, being a logical man, refused to believe that this man’s car was allergic to vanilla ice cream. He arranged, therefore, to continue his visits for as long as it took to solve the problem. And toward this end he began to take notes: he jotted down all sorts of data, time of day, type of gas used, time to drive back and forth, etc.
In a short time, he had a clue: the man took less time to buy vanilla than any other flavour. Why? The answer was in the layout of the store.
Vanilla, being the most popular flavour, was in a separate case at the front of the store for quick pickup. All the other flavours were kept in the back of the store at a different counter where it took considerably longer to find the flavour and get checked out.
Now the question for the engineer was why the car wouldn’t start when it took less time. Once time became the problem — not the vanilla ice cream — the engineer quickly came up with the answer: vapour lock. It was happening every night, but the extra time taken to get the other flavours allowed the engine to cool down sufficiently to start. When the man got vanilla, the engine was still too hot for the vapour lock to dissipate.
Moral of the story: even insane-looking problems are sometimes real.
Source:http://www.plant-maintenance.com/articles/pontiac.shtml
————–
Even in life, we sometimes will bump into weird problem or situations. And in some of those times , it is these tiny little external factors (which is totally unrelated to problem/situation) that can point us to the cause. And once we know the cause, solving it will be a lot easier.
In the world we live in now, when faced with a problem, most people would want instant solution most of the time. I am like that at times too. And I noticed that when I am too focus on solving the problem fast, my view and thinking process narrowed down just to that. And I would sometimes forget or have difficulties looking at the situation from other possible views. Taking a step back from the problem, having a shift in my focus, allows me space to look at the problem differently. And sometimes, that is all it takes to allow me to grasp that situation and solve it.
So, when you face a problem in your life that you have been trying to solve unsuccessfully, try taking a step back and look at the problem in a different view. Seek for a different opinion and do something different. And maybe, the solution will appear to you then.
Hope you enjoyed the story and my sharing.
thejrjourney 