Murphy had come to England determined to make his fortune. Failing to find suitable work in Liverpool or Manchester, he wandered further north and eventually got a job in the Highways Department of Cumbria County Council. The Highways Department manager handed him a map of the Lake District and said, “Murphy, tomorrow you start repainting the white lines down the middle of this road”, and indicated on his map a winding road over the fells. He continued, “You are on a month`s probation and you must complete an average of 3 miles of road each day to keep the job
At the end of Murphy`s first day the manager checked Murphy`s progress and was delighted to find that he had completed 4 miles. At the end of the second day the manager checked and found Murphy had done 2 miles but thought, "well he is still at the average and I don't want him to get discouraged." However, at the end of Murphy`s third day the manager found that Murphy had only completed one mile and thought, "I`d better have a word with him."
So the manager called Murphy into his office and said, "Murphy, you started off well, the first day you did 4 miles the second day 2 miles but yesterday you only did one mile, Why? is there a problem? An injury, equipment failure, anything keeping you from meeting the 3 mile average?"
Murphy replied "Well sor, I keep getting further and further from the bucket."
