A Day in the Life of . . .

For a public safety promotional examination, the operating department provided an experience analyst with a hand written copy of a writing exercise complete with the correct responses. The analyst gave the material to a fairly new typist to put in final form. She typed the material letter perfect and returned it to the analyst. The analyst being busy (as all of us are) thanked her and asked his fairly new assistant to make copies and put them in the file. A week or so later the analyst retrieved the material and took it to the test site. Soon after the exam material was distributed, on of the test takers raised his hand and asked, "Fred, why are the answers included with the questions?" At which point, the analyst collected the test material, returned to the personnel office, and began giving serious thought to retirement.

Like a dog that is so ugly he's cute, some items are so bad they're funny. From the test item archives:

Which one of the following would you do if you were driving down a highway and suddenly noticed that the motor of your car had caught fire?

A. Slow down, jump out and let the car go on
B. Slow down, pull over on the shoulder, stop, raise the hood, and pour water over the motor.
C. Slow down and run the car into a ditch which has about four feet of water in it.
D. Pull over on the shoulder, stop, raise the hood, and pour dirt over the motor.
E. Speed up and snuff the flame by going so fast the air will blow the fire out.