Power poles

A foreman sent out two groups of men to put up telephone poles along a new highway and asked them to report at the end of the day. The crews were gone all day and returned just as the sun was setting.

The foreman asked the leader of the first group how many poles they had installed. The reply was eleven. The foreman patted the guy on the back and said, “Not bad.”

Then he went to the leader of the next group and asked him the same question. “Two” was the reply.

“Two! All you installed were two?! The other group installed eleven!” The foreman exclaimed angrily.

“Yeah,” the leader answered, “But you should have seen how much they left sticking out!”