NAME.....Cleaning Up With Toothpaste!
CODE.....AW1909
ORIGIN...Holland
STATUS...False

When an employee of a company barges into the Director's office and tells him that he has an excellent idea to generate a bigger profit, it had better be a good one…and this was! The company produced toothpaste, and the employee reckoned that he could boost sales by 10%. Intrigued, the Director asked how the employee proposes to achieve such a task.

Before the employee was willing to share his great idea, he made the Director sign an agreement that he has a right to a certain annual percentage of the profit (the percentage is unknown) for the rest of his life if the idea was used. This was all agreed, and the rest is history. The employee now lives a life of luxury, and is worth millions of pounds. So what was this great idea I hear you ask? Well, it's simple:

Enlarge the hole of the toothpaste tube by 10%. The consumers will not notice this change and put the same amount of toothpaste onto their toothbrushes. But because the hole is bigger, they will use more toothpaste and will have to buy new toothpaste tubes more regularly.

Summary

In the Netherlands, the term used for Urban Legends is "Broodje aap verhalen" which translates as Monkey Burgers in English. I collected this rags to riches tale from a Dutch website named Monkey Burgers, which was created by Patrick Arink.

Patrick has informed me that he first heard the legend being told in a pub in the early 90's (if the bloke down the pub told it, it must be true then!). Another time, he heard the story in a different part of the Netherlands while listening to a conversation on a bus.

As I have already stated, this is a typical modern rags to riches tale that most people can relate to as it rekindles the dream we all have of making it big. After all, if such a simple idea can bring success, why can't it happen to you?

It is also a success story for the small guy. What a great world we live in when low-level employees can out think the big corporate fat cats with their teams of advisers, high spending marketing strategies, and think tanks. There's hope for all of us!

Final Thoughts

As I have already said, the Dutch term for UL's translates as Monkey Burgers in English. I am sure I am not the only person to wonder why they are called Monkey Burgers, and I am sure I was not the last to think that it was probably the product of spending too much time in those Amsterdam cafes. Well, I have yet to have conformation on the meaning, but I do have a feeling that it originates from a legend that a certain fast food chain substituted beef for monkey meat in their burgers! If anyone has a clearer idea to the true meaning, please let me know.

If you are fluent in Dutch, you might want to visit Patrick Arink Dutch website. Naturally, being English, I cannot speak any other languages. Of course, I get by, by speaking LOUD and s l o w l y to foreigners!