I'm about to tell 3 car stories. This IT Co I worked for in Munich, just about all of them had shiny new German sports cars:
I'm from the Midwest. When I moved to Germany & married my German boyfriend he had a small company: 2 founding members & 1 employee (Marc). Shortly
before we married, the other founding member (a Korean born in Germany - Kim) ran off to Barcelona, Spain, to be with his new Spanish artist
girlfriend, taking with him the Porsche that was leased in their Co's name @ $1000/mth, that Kim wasn't earning or paying.
One weekend, after 7 mths of Porsche payments, my ex-husband & I decided to travel to Barcelona to find the car. We knew the girl's name (a very
common Spanish name - S.Gomez) and a general idea where she lived. We knew Kim was mostly storing the Porsche in a parking garage.
So we drove 6 hours to Barcelona, found the neighborhood & with a map began checking out the underground garages. It didn't take long, mayby 4th
garage before we found the Porsche. We took photos & my ex-husband took the plates off.
We then found a hotel room where we looked up every S.Gomez in the phone book in the area & began making calls looking for Kim. We had no luck cold
calling but I believe the next day we did find the S.Gomez apt, right outside the entrance to the garage where the Porsche was stored. No one answered
the door, the phone or messages we'd left.
Next step was my ex-husband contacting Porsche in Germany & explaining the scenario. We also contacted local police, who told us to put the license
back on the car(?), which we did. Interpol was contacted, prob because it went over country borders. We ended up meeting in a Spanish police station
to explain everything. They paid to bring in a German/Spanish interpreter.
One one hand, Porsche gave us instuctions to use a plactic uni-key of some sort to get into the car. My ex-husband had his 1 employee Marc (a close
friend of ours, I might add) fly to Barcelona to deliver it.
Per Porsche's instructions, you could use the plactic uni-key to open the door but then you have 30 secs to put it in the ignition & then execute a
series of turns. 15 clicks left, count to 5 then 6 clicks right. Some nonsense like that but it was pretty ridiculously complicated. But it worked!
Marc got the Porsche started!
The night before, we concocted a plan where we drew a ticket for the Beetle (the car we drove there in) and gave it to Marc to drive out of the
parking garage with the Porsche. When it came our turn to drive out, we said we lost our ticket & they just charged us default 24 hrs.
The Barcelona police wanted nothing to do with it. They pretty much said that you can drive whatever car out of our city & nobody will bother you. And
nobody did. Have no idea why. It was all legal though, even Interpol said so.
Then me, the ex & Marc all drove back to Germany from Barcelona.
A few months later me & my my ex-husband were driving home from a drunken night @ Oktoberfest with a new Russian colleague of ours. It was around
3:30am & my my ex-husband decided to show off in his Porsche against a car next to us while turning the corner at a T stop. The other guy safely
turned left while my my ex-husband skidded right into the curb with his front left tire, bending it sideways under the car.
We all got out to look at it. Shortly there after another car stopped to check on us. What I remember is him chucking our 2 1/2 of crates of beer from
the Porsche into the nearby field. He then told us to call a lawyer.
My ex-husband stayed with the car, me & our new Russian colleage walked to our house, which was 3 blocks away. We shared a bottle of red wine while
trying to get a hold of my my ex-husband.
After all was said & done, it cost $1500 in lawyer fees to clear ex-husband's name & $20k to fix the wheel on the Porsche.
We had a bona fide crazy working at the co (Gl0). He could find the best hotel or restaurant in NYC, which he did when our 20-wide co did an IT
after-work celebration at the top of the WTC, in March 2001.
Gl0 was trouble but often fun at parties. He often took a shot of high octane alchohol & & lit it on fire letting out a huge fireball. Best thing
about this with him is that he did it in the preppiest bar in Munich (P1), where footballers & local celebrities hang out. I always liked that Gl0 got
kicked out for breathing fire from that dump. He also split a barstool on his head in half & also got thrown out.
Gl0 was a total nut. He once told me that his dad was an artist & wine enthusiast. Gl0 knew his wine.
Gl0 bought a brand spanking new BMW Z3, bright mettalic blue, right when they came out. It was a pretty convertible.
Within 2 wks Gl0 had a story about how he was running from the police while driving drunk. He said he had a friend in the car who was freaking out.
Gl0 ended up hitting a stoplight post (in Germany, these are hella sturdy and on the side of the road) he knocked it over then ran from the scene. He
turned himself in the next day, payed 1000 Euro to lawyers & his name was cleaned.
A couple weeks later I went to pick Gl0 up from the Ubahn station & accidently drove in the bus lanes to get closer. Gl0 was super nervous. Guess that
was a no-no but no cops stopped us.
Another 'nobody will believe it.' Our IT Co was founded from cash a girl came into after selling an unexpectly valuable painting she found in her
grandmothers attic.
This girl's name was Belle. Belle was super nice, 6'1" tall with blond hair & blue eyes, but she was super shy. So shy she had a hard time looking
anyone in the eye.
Belle, with the $ from her grandmother's painting founded an IT co. with her boyfriend & 2 other guys (one my ex-husband).
She also bought a cute little black hardtop convertible Mercedes. Forget which kind but we traded cars for the weekend once & it was great driving
down the Schellingerstrasse with the top down on a summer night.
Belle's boyfriend was a real scumbag. He was a founding member of the co & squandered a ton of investor's cash on dumb shit. He paid a bunch of $ to
have a painting commisioned of... it's almost to embarrassing to say. This jackass paid for a giant (9'x7') painting of a giant vagina, with a lady
relaxing in the mix. Like if there was a naked lady relaxing in a pose on rocks, only the rocks are a 9' grody vagina. I used the 'cooter painting'
turned outside to block the sunlight from distracting my work area.
I would ask "What kind of tool would commision such a piece." But I already know the answer. Belle's boyfriend.
Belle's boyfriend gets worse. Her scumbag boyfriend would borrow her little Mercedes hartop convertible to go visit his other girlfriend 3 hours away.
He did this many times until one weekend he got into a horrible wreck, rolled it & wrecked that cute little Mercedes. EMT's wondered how he walked out
unscathed. And Belle was there to comfort his cheating ass when he got home.
Belle could have had a modeling contract anywhere, but she has zero confidence & instead clung to this grody 'cooter painting' commisioning dirtbag.
I ran into him at a pub years after he'd left the Co & he was still a skeezy snake oil salesman, running his mouth to anyone who's listen.