(A) One day my father hired three young men to harvest the crop. At the end of the day (a) he gathered them around to pay them. “What do I owe you, John?” my dad asked the first young man he had hired. “Fiftyfive dollars, Mr. Burres,” John said. Dad wrote him a check for fiftyfive dollars. “What do I owe you, Michael?” (b) he asked the second young man who had worked the same number of hours as John. “You owe me seventyfive dollars,” Michael said.
(B) Again my father was surprised. (c) He asked for clarification. “And how did you arrive at that figure?” The third young man, like the other two, had been hired for the same job and had put in equal time. “Well,” said Nathan, “I didn’t charge you for the lunch break since your wife prepared and served lunch. I didn’t have gas expenses since I came with my buddies. So the actual number of hours worked brings my pay to thirtyeight dollars and fifty cents.” My father wrote him out a check for one hundred dollars.
(C) Dad then looked at the three young men ―stricken silent by my father’s actions ―all of whom were a bit bewildered by the differing amounts on their individual check. “I always pay a man his worth, boys. Where I come from we call that equal pay for equal worth.” (d) He looked benevolently at the three young men and in his typical fatherly style added, “The values in a man create the value of a man.”
(D) With a look of surprise, my dad asked quietly, “How do you figure that, Michael?” “Oh,” said Michael, “I charge from the time I get into my car to drive to the job site, until the time I get back home, plus gas mileage and meal allowance.” “Meal allowance ― even if we provide the meals?” my dad said. “Yup,” replied Michael. “I see,” said my dad, writing him a check for the seventyfive dollars (e) he requested. “And what about you, Nathan?” Dad inquired. “You owe me thirtyeight dollars and fifty cents, Mr. Burres,” Nathan said.