One afternoon, a blonde woman walked into a busy auto parts store with a very specific request. She approached the counter, smiled politely, and asked the employee whether he had a replacement “seven-ten cap” for her Buick. The man looked confused. He had worked with car parts for years, but he had never heard of anything called a seven-ten cap. Thinking he might have misunderstood, he asked her to repeat the name.

“Seven-ten,” she answered confidently. “It’s a little round cap on top of my engine, about three and a half inches across. I lost mine, and I need another one.” The employee searched his computer, checked the catalog, and even asked two coworkers whether they recognized the part. Nobody had any idea what she was describing. Finally, one employee handed her a notepad and asked her to draw it.

She carefully drew a circle, wrote three numbers inside, and slid the paper across the counter. The moment the employee turned it around, everyone understood!

Continue below in Part 2.