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I am in search of a funny story that involved monkeys. The moral of the story was about how some things just do not change, because that is the way we did it and will continue to do it....I forget any specific phrases of the story, it was about half a page long, and I would like to find it again. I searched google with no luck. I know this is not much to go on, but where there is a will, there is a way. Anyone have any inkling where I can find this funny story?

Customer (name blocked for privacy)

Status: Closed Value: $3

Start with a cage containing five monkeys. Inside the cage, hang a banana on a string and place a set of stairs under it. Before long, a monkey will go to the stairs and start to climb towards the banana. As soon as he touches the stairs, spray all of the other monkeys with cold water.

After a while, another monkey makes an attempt with the same result - all the other monkeys are sprayed with cold water. Pretty soon, when another monkey tries to climb the stairs, the other monkeys will try to prevent it.

Now, put away the cold water. Remove one monkey from the cage and replace it with a new one. The new monkey sees the banana and wants to climb the stairs. To his surprise and horror, all of the other monkeys attack him. After another attempt and attack, he knows that if he tries to climb the stairs, he will be assaulted.

Next, remove another of the original five monkeys and replace it with a new one. The newcomer goes to the stairs and is attacked. The previous newcomer takes part in the punishment with enthusiasm! Likewise, replace a third original monkey with a new one, then a fourth, then the fifth. Every time the newest monkey takes to the stairs, he is attacked. Most of the monkeys that are beating him have no idea why they were not permitted to climb the stairs or why they are participating in the beating of the newest monkey.

After replacing all the original monkeys, none of the remaining monkeys have ever been sprayed with cold water. Nevertheless, no monkey ever again approaches the stairs to try for the banana.

Why not?

Because as far as they know that's the way it's always been done around here.

And that, my friends, is how company policy begins.

Helping individuals and businesses nationwide reduce taxes and increase profits through sound planning and quality service

Reply to jonacpa's Post: I am sorry, this perhaps might be a similar version, but it is not the story I am thinking of. The story I am thinking of, I do believe, had three monkeys in it. I will try to remember more of it and make another entry.

Dear Customer (name blocked for privacy),

The following website had this monkey story on it: www.clean-funnies.com/html/f1132.htm
The Monkey's Disgrace

Three monkeys sat in a coconut tree,
Discussing things as they are said to be.
Said one to the other, "Now listen, you two,
There's a rumor around that can't be true.
That man descended from our noble race,
The very idea is a great disgrace.
No monkey has ever deserted his wife,
Starved her babies and ruined her life.
And you've never known a mother monk
To leave her babies with others to bunk.
Or pass from one on to another
Till they scarcely know who is their mother.
Here's another thing a monkey won't do
Go out at night and get in a stew
Or use a gun or club or knife
To take some other monkeys life.
Yes, man descended, that ornery cuss
But, brother, he didn't descend from us"

You weren't by any chance thinking of the three monkeys who were said to do the following: "See no evil. Hear no evil. Speak no evil."
Mizaru (blind), Kikazaru (deaf) and Iwazaru (dumb)
www.santacruzpl.org/readyref/files/m-p/noevil.shtml

Here's another website with a monkey story: www.jokesandgames.com/jokes/ archives/Animals/The_Three_Monkeys.html

The Three Monkeys

A man walks into a Silicon Valley pet store looking to buy a monkey. The
store owner points towards three identical-looking monkeys in their
respective cages. "The one on the left costs $500," says the store
owner.

"Why so much?" asks the customer.

"Because it can program in C," answers the store owner.

The customer inquires about the next monkey and is told, "That one
costs $1500, because it knows Visual C++ and the .NET framework."

The startled man then asks about the third monkey.

"That one costs $3000," answers the store owner.

"3000 dollars!" exclaims the man. "What can that one do?"

To which the owner replies, "To be honest, I've never seen it do a
single thing, but it calls itself a Consultant."

I hope that these were what you were looking for.

Mic Sayre

Edited by MekaSair on February 10 2005 at 6:56 AM

Reply to Mic Sayre's Post: I am sorry, but these two are certainly not the story I was looking for.

Sorry, I can not remember any actual phrases from the story I am in search of. It was placed on the bulletin board at work a couple years ago and I was hoping someone there could help me remember how it went or perhaps if they had a copy saved. I have others to check with yet and I will not give up.

Greetings:

Perhaps you are referring to "The Hundredth Monkey Phenomenon" - please see below:

The Hundredth Monkey

the hundredth monkey phenomenom

Bright Blessings.

Peace, Love & Happiness,

The Mystic Wave

New Age/Metaphysical Practitioner, Gifted Psychic/Spiritualist/Empath (Tarot/Numerology/Dreams/Herbal Healing, etc.)
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Reply to TheMysticWave's Post: No it is not the hundreth monkey phenom, I read about that while I was searching on google. It was a short half page story, and the most similar one is the first one posted that ended with the line about company policy. The only problem was the story itself was not the right story, it was not similar to that story posted. I am sorry, but for the life of me can not remember any of the actual lines of the story.

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Greetings:

Thank you for responding. Please know that I inadvertently submitted my post as I had additional information to share - thus, a second post. I'm sorry for any inconvenience.

Bright Blessings.

Peace, Love & Happiness,

The Mystic Wave

Greetings:

Here's one more...."The Monkey Paradox"...this is similar to the first one ......(using "ladder" in place of "stairs").

The Hindu Business Line : The Monkey Paradox

Bright Blessings.

Peace, Love & Happiness,

The Mystic Wave

I am going to accept jonacpa response as it is the most similar story to what I was looking for, and it was up first. I showed it to a coworker and he says that he is 85 percent sure this is the one we had on the board. I think it is different, but shares the same moral. Thank you all.

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