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A woman was employed as a temporary receptionist. She met her boss, was given some brief instructions then sat down at the desk and waited for clients.

The first client examined the magazines and other reading matter and finally settled on the local paper.

The second client was equally patient . She started surfing the web.

The third client was sniffling terribly and appeared to be coming down with flu.

The fourth client appeared to be worried about his forthcoming scan.

The fifth client brought a section of tree branch along and spent the whole time examining its bark.

The sixth client had presumably missed lunch because she proceeded to eat some bread and cheese.

The seventh client was so terrified, all she wanted to do was hide.

The eighth client came in out of breath as though he'd been in a race.

There was no ninth client so the receptionist went to see if the boss needed anything. She opened the door, went in, gave a scream and rushed out again to make a phone call.

Question

What three things can you now confidently say about the boss?

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    $\begingroup$ Does this come down to: what's the pattern in the words "paper, surf/web, flu, scan, bark, bread/cheese, hide, race"? $\endgroup$ Aug 13, 2015 at 23:14

2 Answers 2

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1. The boss is old.
2. The boss is a lady.
3. The boss is dead after swallowing all her clients!
The last word in each client's description is associated with an animal from the rhyme "There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly":


The first client examined the magazines and other reading matter and finally settled on the local paper.

Fly paper

The second client was equally patient. She started surfing the web.

Spider web

The third client was sniffling terribly and appeared to be coming down with flu.

Bird flu

The fourth client appeared to be worried about his forthcoming scan.

CAT scan

The fifth client brought a section of tree branch along and spent the whole time examining its bark.

Dog bark

The sixth client had presumably missed lunch because she proceeded to eat some bread and cheese.

Goat cheese

The seventh client was so terrified, all she wanted to do was hide.

Cow hide

The eighth client came in out of breath as though he'd been in a race.

Horse race

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  • $\begingroup$ Correct! (+1) Now all you have to do to earn the green tick is tidy up a little. Note that the 7th client is wrongly specified. You still haven't quite spotted the very regular pattern - you did get it right in four (or maybe nearly four) of the cases. The other four you just need to tweak a little. $\endgroup$ Aug 13, 2015 at 23:50
  • $\begingroup$ Looking much better now. $\endgroup$ Aug 14, 2015 at 9:00
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1)The boss is a veterinarian Reason: All the clients had dog like behavior. For example client 1 decided to go to the bathroom on newspaper instead of magazine. Client 2 was a dog owner there to pick up her dog. All the actions of the other clients could be interpreted as something a dog would do.

2)The boss told here there were going to be 9 appointments Reason: The lady was obviously expecting the 9th client to show because "There was no ninth client so the receptionist went to see if the boss needed anything".

3)The boss was being attacked by the one of the clients(dogs) and was injured so the receptionist ran out of office to call police. Reason: She screamed when she saw the injured vet and and ran out of office because the dog was currently attacking the vet.

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  • $\begingroup$ It's a good start but incorrect. Saying that a dog could do all those things doesn't really give you a confident answer. A person could also do them. However you are onto something :-) $\endgroup$ Aug 15, 2015 at 11:16

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