— You’re doing a great job as head clockmaker. But unfortunately, sales are down this quarter. People just aren’t buying clocks like they used to.
— Hm, I figured this would happen.
— How so? People love clocks.
— But clocks are boring now. Old news. What we’re making is barely a step above the sundial.
— I suppose you're right. We could freshen things up with something new.
— How about this? The grandfather clock. It’s a clock that’s just like your grandfather.
— It smokes cigars and tells me I’m a disappointment?
— No, it rings a loud bell every hour. Even when you’re sleeping. Just like my grandfather.
— Was your grandfather a haunted ferryman?
— And it would be big. Too big, some would say. This isn’t a clock you put on the wall. You have to dedicate a whole corner to the grandfather clock.
— I see.
— And it doesn’t have to just be grandfather clocks. We could make a grandmother clock, an uncle clock, a distant cousin clock.
— I’m not so sure.
— You’re right. It would dilute the market. We should just make the big, loud grandfather clock.
— Let’s think of something else.
— Okay, what about this? Complete opposite of the grandfather clock—a tiny clock that you can carry around.
— That’s good! You could strap it to your wrist.
— I was thinking it goes in your pocket. And it’s connected to a chain, so you can choke someone out with it if it comes down to it.
— So it’s a weapon?
— Only if it comes down to it.
— Huh. What if we just take our current clock, and make the woodworking a bit more interesting.
— Like utterly insane?
— Maybe just a nice design.
— Or a crazy design? A design that makes you go mad when you look at it. Or dare I say, cuckoo?
— What?
— I’ve had this idea bouncing around called the cuckoo clock. Every hour a bird jumps out of the clock and screams at you. And you’re like, what the—oh, it’s just my clock.
— Wouldn’t that get annoying?
— Well it doesn’t have to be a bird. It could also be a bunch of dancing Germans that come out. That’s pretty cuckoo too if you ask me.
— Would people want that?
— Clockmaking isn’t about giving people what they want. It’s about giving them what they need.
