Americans expectations - Japanese Perfection

Forwarded by Venkat
They're still laughing about this at IBM:

Apparently the computer giant decided to have some parts manufactured in
Japan as a trial project. In the specifications, they set out that they
will accept only three defective parts per 10,000. When the delivery came in
there was an accompanying letter.

'We, Japanese people, had a hard time understanding North American
business practices. But the three defective parts per 10,000 have been
separately manufactured and have been included in the consignment.
Hope this pleases you.'