By coincidence three construction contractors all died on the
same day. One was a Black fellow. One was an Irishman. One of the
men was Jewish. St. Peter met them at the Pearly Gates and thought
it was a good time to get some estimates on what it would cost to
renovate the gates.
St. Peter first asked the Black fellow... "Well... I'd say it would
cost about $900", he responded after looking the gates over for sometime.
"I see," said St. Peter, "could you give me a breakdown of the costs?"
"I'd figure about $300 for my crew, $300 for materials, and $300 for
myself."
"That sounds fairly reasonable.", said St. Peter, and he turned to
the Irishman and asked for his estimates. "Hmmm..." The Irishman looked
the gates over and said, "I think $1200 should be adequate."
"Why twelve hundred dollars?", asked St. Peter.
"Well," said the Irishman, "I'd need $400 for my crew, because I have
a better crew. I'll need $400 for materials, because I use better
materials, and I'd need $400 for myself, because I do better work."
"I see." said St. Peter, and he turned the question over to the Jew.
After looking the great gates over for some time, the Jew responded,
"$2900." "$2900!" exclaimed St. Peter, "Why so much?"
"Well..." said the Jewish fellow, "A thousand dollars for me... A
thousand dollars for you... and we can get that Black guy to do it for
$900..."
