 During the spring of 1943, he was promoted to "Hauptgefreiter" and transferred to headquarters in Wiesbaden.Unsatisfied with his job of "manufactur[ing] little round holes" as a clerk at Headquarters, he joked to the adjutant that he had figured out that the cost of each hole he punched was five pfennig.The adjutant informed the general of Scharff's calculations, and the general summoned Scharff and told him that he did not like low-ranking personnel "figuring out costs what were none of their business."