He sits in a chair across from the interviewer on the top floor of a large corporate building. The interviewer, plainly unimpressed by the man sitting before him, decides to ask some loaded interview questions in order to quickly dispose of the Russian.
"Welcome," says the interviewer. "For your first question, I'd like you to draw the number 9 without using numbers." He hands the Russian man a pad of paper and a pencil to complete the exercise.
The Russian stares into space for a brief minute and then proceeds to draw three trees on the first piece of paper. He shows his drawings to the interviewer and says, "Here. Tree, tree, and tree equals 9."
The interviewer is slightly taken aback by this show of ingenuity, but he pushes onward. "Very well," he says. "Now, do the same thing with the number 99."
The Russian's face goes blank as he stares into space for a time. Finally, he takes his pencil and draws a little smudge on the trunk of each tree. He gestures to the paper and says, "Here. Now each tree is dirty. Dirty-tree, dirty-tree, and dirty-tree equals 99."
The interviewer is begrudgingly impressed, but he really does not want to hire this man. He decides on one final, loaded question. "Fine. For your final question, perform the same exercise with the number 100."
The Russian man stares at the wall of the office for several minutes. Just as the interviewer is about to smugly ask him to leave, the Russian draws a little dot at the base of each tree on the paper. He points at the dots and says, "Here. Little doggy come by and poop by each tree. Now is dirty-tree and a turd, dirty-tree and a turd, and dirty-tree and a turd. This is 100. When do I start?"
