"Anekdote zur Senkung der Arbeitsmoral" ("Anecdote on Lowering the Work Ethic"[1][2]) is ashort story byHeinrich Böll about an encounter between an enterprisingtourist and a smallfisherman, in which the tourist suggests how the fisherman can improve his life.[3] It was written for aLabour Day programme on theNorddeutscher Rundfunk in 1963, and is considered one of the best stories written by Böll.[4]
The story is set in an unnamed harbor on the west coast ofEurope.[1] A smartly-dressed enterprising tourist is taking photographs when he notices a shabbily dressed local fisherman taking a nap in his fishing boat. The tourist is disappointed with the fisherman's apparently lazy attitude towards his work, so he approaches the fisherman and asks him why he is lying around instead of catching fish. The fisherman explains that he went fishing in the morning, and the small catch would be sufficient for the next two days.
The tourist tells him that if he goes out to catch fish multiple times a day, he would be able to buy a motor in less than a year, a second boat in less than two years, and so on. The tourist further explains that one day, the fisherman could even build a smallcold storage plant, later apickling factory, fly around in ahelicopter, build a fish restaurant, and exportlobster directly toParis without a middleman.
The nonchalant fisherman asks, "Then what?"
The tourist enthusiastically continues, "Then, without a care in the world, you could sit here in the harbor, doze in the sun, and look at the glorious sea."
"But I'm already doing that", says the fisherman.
The enlightened tourist walks away pensively, with no trace ofpity for the fisherman, only a littleenvy.
The story, with its several adaptions, has been circulated widely on the Internet, and has been quoted in many books and scholarly papers.[5][6] In one of the most popular versions, the tourist is an American (anMBA fromHarvard in some versions), and the fisherman is Mexican.[7][8]
The story is also part of thesyllabi of several universities.[9][10] It is often quoted in texts that discuss the relationship betweenmoney andhappiness, and has been included in textbooks teaching the German language.[11]
Pyrrhus and Cineas, a philosophical essay bySimone de Beauvoir, which features a similar conversation: Cineas asks Pyrrhus why he does not rest now instead of going through all the trouble of conquering empires, when his ultimate plan is to rest after the final conquest. The anecdote originally appeared inParallel Lives byPlutarch.
^abBöll, Heinrich (1995). "Anecdote Concerning the Lowering of Productivity".The Stories of Heinrich Boll. Leila Vennewitz (translator). Northwestern University Press. pp. 628–630.ISBN0-8101-1207-8.
^Anecdote concerning the "Lowering of Productivity" in Leila Vennewitz' translation
^Plass, Jan L.; Chun, Dorothy M.; Mayer, Richard E.; Leutner, Detlev (March 2003). "Cognitive load in reading a foreign language text with multimedia aids and the influence of verbal and spatial abilities".Computers in Human Behavior.19 (2).Elsevier:221–243.doi:10.1016/S0747-5632(02)00015-8.
Böll, Heinrich (1995). "Anecdote Concerning the Lowering of Productivity".The Stories of Heinrich Boll. Leila Vennewitz (translator). Northwestern University Press. pp. 628–630.ISBN0-8101-1207-8.
Nayhauss, Hans-Christoph Graf von (1995). "Probleme der Literatur-Rezeption am Beispiel von Heinrich Bölls 'Anekdote zur Senkung der Arbeitsmoral'". In Bernd Balzer, Norbert Honsza (ed.).Heinrich Böll—Dissident der Wohlstandsgesellschaft (in German). Wrocław: Wydawn/Uniwersytetu Wrocławskiego. pp. 173–200.ISBN978-83-229-1293-5.OCLC185775050.
Zobel, Klaus (1985). "Anekdote zur Senkung der Arbeitsmoral".Textanalysen. Eine Einführung in die Interpretation moderner Kurzprosa (in German). Paderborn: Ferdinand Schöningh. pp. 180–186.ISBN978-3-506-28432-7.OCLC13032352.
