Tickets Please

Three retired NASA engineers and three IRS accountants are taking an Amtrak train to a conference in Chicago.

At the station, the three accountants each buy a ticket and notice the three engineers buying only one.

“How are three grown men going to ride on one ticket?” one accountant asks.

“Just watch,” one of the engineers says with a grin.

They board the train. The accountants sit in their seats while the engineers squeeze into a restroom and lock the door.

Soon the conductor walks through the carriage calling, “Tickets, please!” He knocks on the restroom door. The door cracks open and a single hand sticks out holding one ticket. The conductor takes it and moves on.

The accountants nod at each other, impressed.

After the conference, the accountants decide to try the same trick on the way home. This time they proudly buy just one ticket.

To their surprise, the engineers don’t buy any at all.

“How are you riding without a ticket?” an accountant whispers.

“Just watch,” the engineer replies.

On the train ride back, the accountants pile into one restroom and the engineers slip into another.

The train pulls out of the station. A few minutes later, one of the engineers quietly steps out of his restroom. He walks over to the accountants’ door and knocks.

In his best official voice he says, “Tickets, please.”