A goober who had been unemployed for several months got a job with Public Works.  She was to paint lines down the center of a rural road.  The supervisor told her that she was on probation and that she must stay at or above the set average of 2 miles per day to remain employed.

The goober agreed to the conditions and starts right away.  The supervisor checking up at the end of the day, found that the goober had completed 4 miles on her first day, double the average!  "Great," he told her, "I think you're really going to work out."

The next day, however, he was disappointed to find that the goober only accomplished 2 miles.  The supervisor thought, "Well she's still at the average and I don't want to discourage her, so I'll just keep quiet."

On the third day, the goober only did one mile and the boss thought, "I need to talk to her before this gets any worse." The boss pulled the new employee in and says, "You were doing so great.  The first day you did 4 miles, the second day 2 miles, but yesterday you only did one mile.  Why?  Is there a problem?  An injury, equipment failure? What's keeping you from meeting the 2 mile minimum?"

The goober replied, "Well, each day I keep getting farther and farther away from the bucket."