To test their skills in recognizing a suspect, he shows the first trainee a picture for five seconds and then hides it. “This is your suspect, how would you recognize him?”
The first trainee answers, “That’s easy, we’ll catch him fast because he only has one eye!” The detective says, “Well…uh…that’s because the picture I showed is his side profile.”
Slightly flustered by this ridiculous response, he flashes the picture for five seconds at the second trainee and asks him, “This is your suspect, how would you recognize him?”
The second guy smiles and says, “Ha! He’d be too easy to catch because he only has one ear!”
The detective angrily responds, “What’s the matter with you two? Of course only one eye and one ear are showing because it’s a picture of his side profile! Is that the best answer you can come up with?”
Extremely frustrated at this point, he shows the picture to the third trainee and asks in a very testy voice, “This is your suspect, how would you recognize him? He quickly adds, “Think hard before giving me a dumb answer.”
The third guy looks at the picture intently for a moment and says, “The suspect wears contact lenses.”
The detective is surprised and speechless because he really doesn’t know himself if the suspect wears contacts or not.
“Well, that’s an interesting answer. Wait here for a few minutes while I check his file and I’ll get back to you on that.” He leaves the room and goes to his office, checks the suspect’s file, and returns with a beaming smile on his face.
“Wow! I can’t believe it. You’re right! The suspect does, in fact, wear contact lenses.
Good work! How were you able to make such an astute observation?”
“That’s easy,” the third trainee replied.” He can’t wear regular glasses because he only has one eye and one ear.”
