A construction site boss was interviewing men for a job
when along came Ole Olson. The boss thought, I’m not
hiring that dumb Ole!, so he decided to set a test for
Ole, hoping he wouldn’t be able to answer the questions,
and he’d be able to refuse him the job without getting
into an argument.

The first question was, Without using numbers, represent
the number 9.

So Ole says, “Dat’s easy!” and proceeds to draw three trees.

The boss says, “What the heck is that?”

Ole says, “Tree, and tree, and tree makes nine.”

“Fair enough,” says the boss. “Second question, same rules,
but represent 99.”

Ole stares into space for a while, then makes a smudge on
each tree. “Der ya go sir,” he says.

The boss scratches his head and says, “How on earth do you
get that to represent 99?”

Ole says, “Each tree’s dirty now! So it’s dirty tree, and
dirty tree, and dirty tree, dats 99.”

The boss is getting worried he’s going to have to hire him,
so he says, “All right, question three. Same rules again,
but represent the number 100.”

Ole stares into space again, then he shouts, “Got It!”

He makes a little mark at the base of each tree and says,
“Der ya go sir, 100.”

“Go on Ole, you must be mad if you think that represents a
hundred,” says the boss.

Ole leans forward and points to the marks at the tree bases
and says, “A little dog comes along and poops by each tree,
so now you’ve got, dirty tree and a turd, dirty tree and a
turd, and dirty tree and a turd, which makes one hundred.
When do I start da job??”