This narrative employs wordplay and a shift in viewpoint to create a hilarious and ironic effect. The husband’s annoyance with the blind man’s stick ticking is amusing because, in a sense, he is disregarding the larger problem in favor of something unimportant.

 

The husband’s protest is turned on its head in the punchline, where the blind guy responds that if the husband had “put a rubber at the end of YOUR stick,” the problem would have been avoided in the first place.

 

The husband’s role in the circumstance is indirectly criticized: he and the blind man are left to walk since the bus was too crowded with his huge family.

 

The husband’s stick’s “rubber” serves as a metaphor for his own accountability for failing to take the right precautions to avoid the situation. The blind man’s funny and surprising response flips the husband’s complaint on its head.

 

When the solution to an issue is obvious but the person complaining is unaware of it, it’s a good example of humor.