A Tale of Two Saleries (w/appologies to Dickens)

A young man works at Radio Shack, and discovers that he has a knack for sales. To further his career, he enrolls in a one week, 40 hour Real Estate sales course, and immediately after receiving his real estate sales license, he lands a job with a prominent real estate broker. The majority of his work is talking on the phone during normal business hours. One day, he answers a call from a buyer, and the next day meets the buyer to show a house. The buyer loves the house and purchases it without delay. The overall effort on the broker and salesman's part boils down to this: taking a photo, placing an ad, answering the phone, and drawing up some legal contracts. The broker's office earns a large commission, based on a percentage of the house's market value, a portion of which is paid to the salesman. The house is never in danger of losing any of its value due to any absence or lack of effort on the part of the salesman. The salesman is considered a hard working, honest and savvy business man.

The young man's brother works at the marina, and discovers that he loves boats. After documenting two years of service on board boats, he takes a 40 hour class and passes a test, and immediately receives a captain's license and goes to work for a towing & salvage company. The majority of his work is assisting disabled vessels, sometimes at night or in bad weather and always away from the safety of terra firma. One day, he responds to a call from a boater with a dead motor. The captain tows this yacht away from danger, before she goes on the rocks or is damaged in any way. The overall effort on the salvor and captain's part boils down to this: answering a radio call, taking a photo, throwing a tow line, and drawing up some legal contracts. The salvor earns a large salvage award based on the market value of the yacht, a portion of which is paid to the captain. The yacht could have suffered thousands of dollars in damage had the captain not been there. The captain is vilified as a pirate...

The guy who owns the yacht is the real estate broker.

...sigh...