A young college student was searching for a summer job to help defray the rising cost of his education. He finally found one with the State Transportation Department, where he was given the task of hand-painting the white lines in the middle of the road.

The supervisor informed him that she expected him to complete ten miles per week, and took him to the job site.

"Place your paint buckets right here," she instructed, "and begin painting white lines from this spot."

The first day went very well. The student covered four miles of lonely highway. The supervisor was pleased. The next day he was only able to extend the white line by one-half mile. Day three ended with merely a quarter mile painted. Day four was even worse. The student was able to add only one hundred feet to his white line.…