The acutal solution:

The rec.boats posters went into Big Box Marine.

Calif Bill bought ten feet of anchor line
Gould bought ten feet of rope to use for an anchor rode
Jax bought ten feet of rope to use for an anchor rope.

The young clerk on duty got rather confused by it all, and forgot what the
cordage was supposed to sell for.
The clerk charged all three rec.boats posters $10 @.

Before the posters could relocate their argument to the parking lot, the
manager of Big Box Marine asked the clerk about the sale. The clerk said, "I
didn't know what to charge, so they each paid $10."

"That's too much said the manager of Big Box Marine, " {{OK OKIt's a fable
already so give me a break}} "Take $5 out of the till and give it back to
them."

The clerk didn't know how to divide $5 by three, so he took a $2 "tip" and gave
eachof the rec.boaters a $1 refund. Since the cordage originally cost each
poster $10 and they received $1 back, the net cost per poster could be said to
be $9.

Since 9X3 = 27, and the clerk absoconded with $2....what happened to the extra
buck? ($27 + 2 = $29)

Who will be the first "unstumped" by this one? :-)