A fellow stopped at a rural gas station, filled his tank, and took a break by his car while drinking a soda.

As he relaxed, he watched a couple of men working along the roadside. One man would dig a hole two or three feet deep and then move on. The other man came along behind him and filled in the hole.

The men worked right past the man and continued on down the road.

Overcome by curiosity, the fellow headed in their direction. “Hey there,” he said. “Can you tell me what’s going on here with this digging?”

“We work for the county government,” one of them said.

“But one of you is digging a hole and the other is filling it up. What’s up with that?” the man asked.

“Well,” the worker replied, “normally there’s three of us – me, Rodney, and Mike. I dig the hole, Rodney sticks in the tree, and Mike here puts the dirt back, but Rodney’s out sick.”

“So what does the work you’re doing accomplish?” asked the man, not quite believing what he was seeing.

“Well,” Mike said. “Just because Rodney’s out sick, that don’t mean we can’t work, right?”