I used to work with this dude named Mike. Really cool guy for the most part. Maybe a little wild, but most 24ish year old caucasian males are.

Mike left the company we were then working for years before I did. It was sometime during the Summer of 2001. They laid him off. We haven't been really great at keeping in touch. He moved to California, but his parents live here in the Atlanta area, so as far as I know, when he comes to town, he gives me a call.

The last time I saw Mike, which was still a few years ago, this is the story he told me, as retold by me, because of course I don't remember any of his exact words:

Mike went to work for this real estate company in California. It might have been another industry other than real estate, but that's what I think it was. Not really important to the story. He was totally new to the industry. Very shortly after he started, a few people from the office went to an industry conference in Las Vegas. He was there for a week or so, but being so new to the industry, it probably was a bit of information overload, and he really didn't get much out of attending the conference. Not his fault, really. Poor planning and decision making on the part of his employers.

The result is that the next year, since Mike didn't get much benefit from attending the conference the year before, they don't take him. They do, however, have him fly out to Vegas on the last day of the conference to help break down the company's booth. Kinda a slap in the face. "Come do our grunt work." So, he flies in maybe the night before, and is walking around the conference on the last day, essentially killing time. He talks to a few people, shakes a few hands. Whatever. Puts his name in a box or two to maybe win some stuff. (They always have drawings and such at these things.)

Turns out, he wins one of the drawings he enters.

Mike wins a brand new Porsche.

Like an $50,000 or $80,000 car. I don't remember which. Mike takes a few pictures with the car, and never sees it again. The car is taken to the dealership that owned, and Mike puts the car up for sale on autotrader.com.

Mike quit his job, and a week or two later, he was sitting in front of me telling me this story over a beer.

Crazy. Only in America.

Know What I'm Sayin'??

UPDATE: I was thinking about this story, and I figured that if they took pictures, then they're probably online somewhere...



Click the picture for the whole story.