Indians run 20,000 hotels in US

Reuters ^ | Thursday, April 29, 2004 at 1315 hours IST | Reuters

[MillerCreek]

I believe the first comments were in jest, sarcasm. In reference, sarcastically, to the notion that the U.S. "owes reparations" to today's blacks.

[stocksthatgoup]

Welcome to the USA = Rule #1 - If you want to become wealthy you need to OWN more and spend less! Now if we could only teach this to our children

[CarrotAndStick]

I was being sarcastic, just like the person I was replying to.

[beaver fever]

His name was Max Willie. He owned a transmission shop. In the early seventies I took a transmission into his shop for an estimate. I gave explicit instructions that they not proceed with the repair until I was informed of the cost.

When I inquired about the estimate I was told by the son that the repair was done and the bill was $350. That was more than I paid for the transmission.

I complained and said I asked for an estimate. I did not authorize the repair. The son referred me to the elder Willie. When talked to him he said. "OK if you don't want to pay I own the transmission. I took him to court. The judge found for me after some very tough questioning.

I got a judgment of execution and Willie refused to comply. I went back to court and Willie was found to be in contempt of the order and I was awarded an additional $300 in punitive damages.

Unfortunately since I represented myself I had to server the judgment to Willie myself. When I served him in his shop he told me. "You better get out of here now."

It was only later that I learned from friends in the local auto industry that he survived the Battle of Stalingrad and WALKED back to Germany.

The man was not someone to be f***ed with. I did however get my money. But the look on Willies face when I served him sent a chill up my spine. I was 23 and he was fifty. I knew from that encounter that he was not afraid of any two legged creature.

[GeronL]

If we could only teach it to liberals.

Flogerloon.... I got a blog for Christmas. There is no return policy *doh*

[RushLake]

One of my two seems to understand that concept. I guess a 50% success rate is better than zero.

[beaver fever]

Actually mass manufacturing based on the division of labor was first implemented in the making of nails in the middle ages.

Their are German woodcuts illustrating the procees.

[durasell]

I was thinking division of labor and inter-changeable parts.

[CarrotAndStick]

Oh my! That's one frightening experience! What happened later? Was he arrested?

Thanks for taking the trouble to explain this.

[x_plus_one]

Any hotel I've been in run by Indians has bugs. Bugs in the sheets, in the mattresses, in the carpets, etc. Either that or they smell bad - like cigaretts, bug spray etc.

[durasell]

Did you put him on your Christmas list?

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1589790170/qid=1135597199/sr=8-3/ref=pd_bbs_3/002-2804418-1965667?n=507846&s=books&v=glance

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00003CXRA/002-2804418-1965667?v=glance&n=130


http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00095LEEW/002-2804418-1965667?v=glance

[beaver fever]

No he settled the claim but as I found out later he wasn't just your friendly German mechanic.

He was one of only 10,000 members of the Wehrmacht who managed to make it home from Stalingrad out of a force of 600,000 and he walked every step of the way back to the homeland.

He was one tough hombre. I shudder to think of how many Russians he killed on his way home.

Like I said the look in his eye was something I'll never forget. The man was afraid of nothing. I was just an annoyance, a fly that he could squash if he bothered to pay attention to at all. The irony is after I found out about his background later I had to concede a great deal of respect for the guy. There is a very good German language film called Stalingrad. I recommend it. The Germans that made it back from Stalingrad were tough MFers you gotta give them that.

[CarrotAndStick]

Thanks for taking the trouble.

About the movie, I'll try and watch it. I live in India, so I'll have to go to the local German council and see if they have a copy. They usually stock movies of this genre, but they'd have to be popular in Germany itself.

[beaver fever]

Chistmas list? I dropped the court ordered judgement on his counter and ran to my car out of fear for my life.

I crossed myself every time I drove by his shop after that.

The dude was the scariest person I ever met in my life and I've encountered some scary people in my time.

He was the kind of guy who would kill you and think using a gun was for sissies.

ISYN the man was from another age and another planet.

[durasell]

It was a joke, but I understand what you mean.

[beaver fever]

Stalingrad was a big hit in Germany.

Starring: Thomas Kretschmann, Dominique Horwitz, Jochen Nickel, Karel Hermanek, Dana Vavrova
Directed by: Joseph Vilsmaier
Produced by: Gunter Rohrbach, Bob Arnold, Hanno Huth

Enemy at the Gates is also very good but from a Russian perspective.

Stalingrad starts out with all the optimism that the Nazis had for an early victory. The conclusion is harsh. I won't spoil it by telling you.

[Beckwith]

Stayed at Best Western, 43rd St. East, (Indian owned and operated) while consulting in Manhattan. Client responsible for room (only way I'll work in Manhattan, where a closet sized room can cost $350 a night).

They took a snapshot of my card for room service and miscellaneous charges.

Client, a big Madison Ave. company, disputed the bill.

Indians illegally charges my card up to the limit. I almost had a heart attack.

Thank God, my daughter is an attorney and threatened them with triple damages. The money was credited to my account the next day.

I would have been out more than $20,000.

[FreedomPoster]

That was my thought. They don't run 20,000 motels. They run 19,800 motels, and maybe 200 hotels.

There *is* a difference.

[beaver fever]

I know it was a joke but seriously I replied to reinforce my point.

The SS were cowards and bullies but rank an file Wehrmacht were very tough and very dangerous.

The Allies had a great deal of respect for them and treated them accordingly. Many of there number fought in Africa, Russia and the final assault on Germany.

Many of them were conscripts who refuse to join the Nazi party. The Wehrmacht was also the only military unit that did not require Nazi party membership.