Anekdote zur Senkung der Arbeitsmoral ("Anecdote on Lowering the work ethic"[1][2]) is a short story by Heinrich Böll about an encounter between an enterprising tourist and a small fisherman, in which the tourist suggests how the fisherman can improve his life.
The tourist further explains that one day, the fisherman could even build a small cold storage plant, later a pickling factory, fly around in a helicopter, build a fish restaurant, and export lobster directly to Paris without a middleman.
The tourist enthusiastically continues, "Then, without a care in the world, you could sit here in the harbor, doze in the sun, and look at the glorious sea."
The story, with its several adaptions, has been circulated widely on the Internet, and has been quoted in many books and scholarly papers.
[9][10] It is often quoted in texts that discuss the relationship between money and happiness, and has been included in textbooks teaching the German language.