Joe's meeting had finished early, so he had the night to relax in a strange city before grabbing a bite to eat and returning to the hotel.
Joe decided that he'd rather not eat at the hotel bar, so he wandered in to a local pub for a drink and hoping for some advice on where to grab a decent dinner.
The
man at the door checked his ID and handed him a numbered card. Number 47. 'Great,' thought Joe. 'There's probably 42 other people in line before me.'
He mentally shrugged and thought 'this might be good, though. It might counteract my normal property of invisibility to bartenders'.
Joe wandered in to the back of the crowd to see an unusual situation developing. The bartender was microphoned and began in an auctioneerning type speal:
"Here's a smooth house Ale, sure to go down easy, finest Ale the house makes, i'll start the buiding at 1.25, do I hear 1.25? 1.25 to the man in the red tie, do I hear 1.50? 1.50 to the lady in the yellow hat, who will give me 1.75? 1.75 for a very nice house Ale, made just a fortnight ago, 1.75 to the man in the leather jacket, number 22......"
Joe noticed people holding their cards up and figured it all out. "Ah! I can get my beer NOW! and not have to wait to catch the bartender's eye. This is great!"
"Who'll give me 7.25? it's a good Ale, best in the city, do I hear 7.25? going at 7 even, going at 7 even, Sold! to the man with the glasses - number 47."
'Oops.' thought Joe. Well at least he got his Ale right away, relatively.