English to French Art/Literary Idioms / Maxims / Sayings Biography

This comes from a draft of a book being written at the moment by a notorious businessman. He's German, and he has a very funny way of telling stories.

It started while talking to him. He was constantly checking references for everything he himself said, and even when I stated something, he checked and double checked references, as if I were somehow trying to "trick" him. Even words, he looked them up in the dictionary. I asked him whether he didn't trust what I was saying. He smiled at me and told me an anecdote, which actually pretty much illustrates the average Chilean work idiosyncrasy, and that I'd like to share with you.

On one of his first jobs in his early twenties at a copper mine in Chile, a piece of equipment had broken down and it was imperative to have it up and running ASAP. Millions of dollars were at stake. So his boss sends him over to ask the technician how long it's going to take to repair it.

He goes, asks the technician, comes back, and tells his boss "he says about 8 hours". The boss says, "Hum... that's not right. Go back and ask him again." Very odd reaction, because hadn't he asked this already? He goes back to the technician, asks him again, and comes back with a new answer: "about 6 hours".

The boss again says, "Hmmm... that doesn't seem right. Go ask him again". And again he goes.

- "He says 4 hours"
- "Hmm... But still, that doesn't seem quite right. Go and ask him again, please."

Finally, he returns with the answer: "he says it's going to take 2 hours".

- "Well, that seems just right", he says as he turns around and looks at him in the eye, "Young man, never take anything for granted."

Et voilà le contexte.