Stories I Like: Apes, Stairs and Bananas from Good Clean Fun

GCF: Apes, Stairs and a Banana

Start with a cage containing five apes. In the cage, hang a
banana on a string and put stairs under it. Before long, an
ape will go to the stairs and start to climb towards the
banana. As soon as he touches the stairs, spray all of the
apes with cold water. After a while, another ape makes an
attempt with the same result - all the apes are sprayed with
cold water.

Continue until, when another ape tries to climb the stairs,
the other apes try to prevent it.

At this point, turn off the cold water.

Now remove one ape from the cage and replace it with a new ape.
The new ape sees the banana and wants to climb the stairs. To
his horror, all of the other apes 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 apes 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.

Again, replace a third original ape with a new one. The new one
makes it to the stairs and is attacked as well. Two of the four
apes that beat him have no idea why they were not permitted to
climb the stairs, or why they are participating in the beating
of the newest ape.

After replacing the fourth and fifth original apes, all the apes
which have been sprayed with cold water have been replaced.

Nevertheless, no ape ever again approaches the stairs. Why not?

"Because that's the way it's always been around here."

And that's how corporate policies begin.

This I found on Good Clean Fun.  It is on Jeff Bridges website

The Ham Story

A similar story I heard was a woman who always chopped the ends off the ham before putting it in the oven to  roast.  When her husband saw his wife wasting some of the ham he asked her why.  She said because my mother always did it this way.  Husband asks, "Why did your mother do it that way?"  "I don't know, she just did."  Husband finally prevails upon her to call mother and ask her.  The answer, I had a small roasting pan and  the hame would not fit if I didn't cut off the ends.  Who knows sometimes why we do what we do.  Sometimes you just have to think outside of the box.
This story I heard at Amway conventions.