Little Johnny is always being teased by the other neighbourhood boys for being so-called ‘stupid’. Yeah, you read that right! These boys think they’re so smart, but boy, are they in for a surprise!
Their favourite joke—oh, you’ll love this—is to offer Johnny a choice between a nickel and a dime. And guess what? Johnny, with a sly grin and not even a moment of hesitation, always picks the nickel. Cue the boys’ uproarious laughter.
Now, enter the well-meaning but slightly patronizing neighbourhood adult who can’t bear to see Johnny being ‘made a fool of’. After Johnny graciously accepts another nickel, this concerned bystander pulls him aside. “Johnny,” he begins with a pitying shake of the head, “those boys are making fun of you. Don’t you know that a dime is worth more than a nickel, even though the nickel’s bigger?”
Is this where Johnny’s face reddens with embarrassment? Nah, where’s the fun in that? Johnny, with a knowing glint in his eye, looks up and delivers the punchline of the century:
“Well, if I took the dime, they’d stop doing it, and so far I’ve made $20!”
BAM. Plot twist detected! The joke’s on them, folks. Yes, Johnny might have taken a longer route, accepting nickels instead of dimes, but he’s racked up a cool $20 by playing along with the ‘geniuses’ who thought they were outsmarting him. Outfoxed them, he did!
See, this right here is a masterclass in reverse psychology, people. Johnny played the long game and it paid off in spades—or in nickels, if you will. He knew that by
