Author Topic: Astonishingly Awful Anti-mustachian Adventures  (Read 17929 times)

bugbaby

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Astonishingly Awful Anti-mustachian Adventures
« on: December 13, 2016, 02:14:02 PM »
This is waaay beyond Shame and Comedy...I even feel evil posting but I need to unburden my heart and can't talk to people IRL... After posting under the Afford Ma$erati topic I realized this is its own phenomenon...

Background:
 My friend whom I'll name Herzog (he reminds me of that book character) is the nicest, kindest and smartest fellow on the planet...but I get little panic attacks just thinking of his situation (And so will you). Yet, he feels great and doesn't really believe he needs help, in fact he feels I need some help since I live so cheaply...

We met while I was working on the East coast 5 years ago and he was a consultant at that company.  We made friends because we were the only out of towners there. He's a 71M and I 50ish F. Dated very briefly but stayed in touch when we both left the town 2-3 yrs ago (his contract ended and I semi retired to my home town).

Fast forward this year I went for job interviews near his town and he let me stay at his place for a couple weeks. He was gone 70% of the time on his contract gigs. It was during the time that I've come to realize that Herzog is probably the world's nuttiest anti-mustachian, and (he also admits) could use serious therapy but won't seek it no matter what.

At the time we worked together I had just moved having done a deed in lieu of my old house and working from under a mountain of debt. In my years there I met MMM, paid off debt and cash flowed a house that I now rent out and saved enough to take a long break. He introduced me to Schwab which was great for me with its checking and brokerage in one place. I moved my IRA there and just continued index funds. He traded stocks including penny stocks and did great. I warned him to only play with a small fraction and leave the rest in index funds. He had just started a SEP-IRA and was maxing it.

Well, this year he mentions he's lost a bunch and very indignantly blames Schwab, stopped dealing with them and never opens their mail. He also abandoned the SEP-IRA and no longer contributes.

This is just the tip of the iceberg. He also stopped opening letters from IRS who have a lien on his house. Last year he bought a Benz that he's spent 15k on repair but very rarely drives. Last year he bought a BMW that he has literally lost without a trace. This year he filed bankruptcy.  Stay tuned, this goes further.....

Prepare for a downfall story to rival Mike Tyson's. Everything that you can think of: Dreadful Divorce...  Girlfriend Grief... House Horrors... Tax Terrors... Evil Employers... Pet Problems... Insane Interest... Lousy Lawyers... Shocking Shopping... Vanishing Vehicles... Ruined Retirement... Abused by Airline, Bankrupted by Bank, Conned by Colleague, Milked by Mechanic, Screwed by Store ... and on and on...

I swear, you name it, it's happened to him. For a long time I wondered how unlucky a fella can get... but after my recent visit and seeing how he lives, it's starting to get clearer somewhat.

Where to start? I can't do chronological so whatever comes up..

Or you, gentle mustachian reader, may propose which of the above ghastly mishaps we may discuss next.


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talltexan

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Re: Astonishingly Awful Anti-mustachian Adventures
« Reply #1 on: December 13, 2016, 02:19:48 PM »
Cars vanishing? How does that even happen?!????

Metric Mouse

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Re: Astonishingly Awful Anti-mustachian Adventures
« Reply #2 on: December 13, 2016, 02:41:07 PM »
Posting to follow!

With This Herring

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Re: Astonishingly Awful Anti-mustachian Adventures
« Reply #3 on: December 13, 2016, 03:12:35 PM »
Here's another vote for Vanishing Vehicle!  Was it repossessed, or did he literally lose it by driving it somewhere and forgetting where he parked...?

And Girlfriend Grief - What did you DO?!  (kidding)

TheGrimSqueaker

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Re: Astonishingly Awful Anti-mustachian Adventures
« Reply #4 on: December 13, 2016, 05:11:57 PM »

Is this just bad luck, or can car shops do this if you're not returning their calls???


Of course they can, and it's got nothing to do with luck. It's an extremely reasonable response to being conned. The lawyer should have told him so.

Leaving a high-end car for a minor repair so as to trick a dealer or mechanic into providing weeks or months of free storage is an old con used by people who don't want to pay for climate controlled parking or security. It happens all the time in high-COL areas where it's expensive to park and store a vehicle.

It also sounds to me as though that's exactly what Vanishing Vehicle guy tried to do.

The thing is, the law allows tradespeople to defend themselves against this kind of con job. Vanishing Vehicle guy got his comeuppance when the shop owner exercised his rights under the law instead of meekly letting the Beemer owner screw him into giving up valuable shop space to provide the Beemer owner with several months of free climate controlled parking and storage. (Nobody really likes being forced to subsidize someone else with a higher standard of living.)

Before property can be considered abandoned, there's a minimum amount of time the person it was left with has to wait. Generally there's a process for trying to contact the owner: phone calls, certified mail, and such. But after the time frame expires, the shop owner doesn't have an obligation to keep the car around, having it take up space that could be used to repair a vehicle for a paying customer (the kind that shows up to reclaim their vehicle and incidentally settle up for parts and labor). So they call to have it towed and sold off. They may be entitled to a portion of the sale proceeds to cover the cost of the work they did (mechanic's lien).

If the mechanic didn't defend himself by moving out vehicles that aren't being picked up in a timely fashion, pretty soon he'd have nowhere to work on the cars because everyone and his dog would be using his business as a place to avoid paying for extended parking. There's no reason he should accept liability for being a long term storage facility or let someone's car take up valuable shop space, especially not for free. Besides, there's no telling when the car owner is coming back. For all the shop owner knows, he's dead, in prison, very sick, or otherwise unable to get the car or to have anyone else come and get it. There's absolutely no reason he should be forced to keep the car around or punished for having offloaded it after making a good faith effort to track down the owner.

Anyone who can afford to pay 22k cash for a Beemer can afford to pay for parking and storage while they're out of the country consulting, or can afford to pay for the repairs over the phone and have someone come pick it up. Anyone brainy or skilled enough to get overseas contracts in the first place also has the logistics skill to make a phone call. Sorry, your buddy tried to screw the mechanic and ended up screwing himself. No sympathy from me: maybe he'll learn to conduct himself with basic regard for the people he does business with.

neil

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Re: Astonishingly Awful Anti-mustachian Adventures
« Reply #5 on: December 13, 2016, 05:21:45 PM »
Is this just bad luck, or can car shops do this if you're not returning their calls???

I had my beater towed.  It was done on a Friday night and I only discovered it on Sunday night.  Luckily the impound lot was still attended, and the person said they were about to put a lien on the title.  The dealership might try to be nice from a customer service perspective, but I imagine they get it towed after the legal required time when someone just leaves a car and doesn't pick it up.  I would bet the paperwork you sign protects them for this very obvious scenario.  The impound companies will probably re-title or scrap cars as fast as legally possible.  How long would you let an abandoned car remain parked at your property?

No one is going to care more for your possessions than you do.  Someone who is careless about possessions is bound to have a laundry list of hard luck stories.  My family probably has boatloads of these kind of stories but probably not multiple ones with five figure costs.

bugbaby

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Re: Astonishingly Awful Anti-mustachian Adventures
« Reply #6 on: December 13, 2016, 06:28:03 PM »

Is this just bad luck, or can car shops do this if you're not returning their calls???


Of course they can, and it's got nothing to do with luck. It's an extremely reasonable response to being conned. The lawyer should have told him so.

Leaving a high-end car for a minor repair so as to trick a dealer or mechanic into providing weeks or months of free storage is an old con used by people who don't want to pay for climate controlled parking or security. It happens all the time in high-COL areas where it's expensive to park and store a vehicle.

It also sounds to me as though that's exactly what Vanishing Vehicle guy tried to do.

The thing is, the law allows tradespeople to defend themselves against this kind of con job. Vanishing Vehicle guy got his comeuppance when the shop owner exercised his rights under the law instead of meekly letting the Beemer owner screw him into giving up valuable shop space to provide the Beemer owner with several months of free climate controlled parking and storage. (Nobody really likes being forced to subsidize someone else with a higher standard of living.)

Before property can be considered abandoned, there's a minimum amount of time the person it was left with has to wait. Generally there's a process for trying to contact the owner: phone calls, certified mail, and such. But after the time frame expires, the shop owner doesn't have an obligation to keep the car around, having it take up space that could be used to repair a vehicle for a paying customer (the kind that shows up to reclaim their vehicle and incidentally settle up for parts and labor). So they call to have it towed and sold off. They may be entitled to a portion of the sale proceeds to cover the cost of the work they did (mechanic's lien).

If the mechanic didn't defend himself by moving out vehicles that aren't being picked up in a timely fashion, pretty soon he'd have nowhere to work on the cars because everyone and his dog would be using his business as a place to avoid paying for extended parking. There's no reason he should accept liability for being a long term storage facility or let someone's car take up valuable shop space, especially not for free. Besides, there's no telling when the car owner is coming back. For all the shop owner knows, he's dead, in prison, very sick, or otherwise unable to get the car or to have anyone else come and get it. There's absolutely no reason he should be forced to keep the car around or punished for having offloaded it after making a good faith effort to track down the owner.

Anyone who can afford to pay 22k cash for a Beemer can afford to pay for parking and storage while they're out of the country consulting, or can afford to pay for the repairs over the phone and have someone come pick it up. Anyone brainy or skilled enough to get overseas contracts in the first place also has the logistics skill to make a phone call. Sorry, your buddy tried to screw the mechanic and ended up screwing himself. No sympathy from me: maybe he'll learn to conduct himself with basic regard for the people he does business with.
Well, if you read my intro post, I also believe all his terrible outcomes are a result of poor patterns of thinking, that's why I felt therapy was badly needed. 

But I can't attribute to malice what I'm certain is fully explained by gross incompetence.  His life is a mess and he suffers from a terminal case of magical thinking.  He believes a problem can be solved with money rather than common sense.  This car issue is just one of countless.   

But I've been doubting myself, wondering if I'm judging too harshly.  When talking to him he sounds perfectly sober and reasonable. It's like an alter reality.

It's very painful to witness a person who works so hard to dig himself out of a deep hole start burying himself in the same hole by utterly self destructive thinking.

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bugbaby

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Re: Astonishingly Awful Anti-mustachian Adventures
« Reply #7 on: December 13, 2016, 06:34:48 PM »
Another example of crazy thinking, while I was job hunting I expressed concern that my ex employers might not give me good references. His take? 'well if they don't you should sue them'!!!

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MgoSam

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Re: Astonishingly Awful Anti-mustachian Adventures
« Reply #8 on: December 13, 2016, 07:04:49 PM »

Is this just bad luck, or can car shops do this if you're not returning their calls???


Of course they can, and it's got nothing to do with luck. It's an extremely reasonable response to being conned. The lawyer should have told him so.

Leaving a high-end car for a minor repair so as to trick a dealer or mechanic into providing weeks or months of free storage is an old con used by people who don't want to pay for climate controlled parking or security. It happens all the time in high-COL areas where it's expensive to park and store a vehicle.


Yup, reminds me of a joke I heard where a man walks into a NYC bank to borrow $1000 for two weeks, they ask for collateral and he hands over his Benz, they take it to their garage and he goes on vacation and comes back and pays the loan plus $20 in interest. The manager says, "Sir we found out that you're exceptionally wealthy, why would you need to borrow $1000?" The guy says, "Oh, where else can you park a car in NYC for $20."

On a side note, my mechanic allowed 2 days to pick up your car otherwise he charges a daily storage fee. It hasn't been an issue for me as he's a block from work.

ender

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Re: Astonishingly Awful Anti-mustachian Adventures
« Reply #9 on: December 13, 2016, 07:09:34 PM »
Cars vanishing? How does that even happen?!????

I read an article a few years ago about a luxury yacht that apparently got abandoned in some port and they couldn't find the owner, to get them to pay mooring fees.

Crazy stuff and I guarantee the yacht was more expensive than the car.

gimp

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Re: Astonishingly Awful Anti-mustachian Adventures
« Reply #10 on: December 13, 2016, 07:35:53 PM »
1)

I thought this was going to be a thread about literal adventures. Like, going to a foreign country, only to spend the entire time in a 5-star resort hotel where everyone speaks english and they feed you booze and steaks.

2)

Mike Tyson's story is a tragedy. An essentially completely uneducated kid with rage issues, earning millions of dollars per fight, who trusted people who stole from him and lied to him. It's not surprising that his several hundred millions of dollars disappeared. The stories of his mansion, pigeon races, and a ferrari for each day of the week are hardly a drop in the bucket compared to the other issues that caused the money to disappear.

Metric Mouse

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Re: Astonishingly Awful Anti-mustachian Adventures
« Reply #11 on: December 14, 2016, 07:01:21 AM »
Cars vanishing? How does that even happen?!????

I read an article a few years ago about a luxury yacht that apparently got abandoned in some port and they couldn't find the owner, to get them to pay mooring fees.

Crazy stuff and I guarantee the yacht was more expensive than the car.

Here's one better from last year: http://www.cnn.com/2015/12/08/aviation/malaysia-aviation-airport-abandoned-aircraft/

"Someone abandoned not one, not two, but three of the massive cargo jets at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) in Malaysia."

I'd love to read that craigslist ad.

Dicey

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Re: Astonishingly Awful Anti-mustachian Adventures
« Reply #12 on: December 14, 2016, 07:27:49 AM »
"This step is also a common process undertaken by airport operators all over the world when faced with such a situation."

Wow! Who knew?

A little more info:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/travel_news/article-3358120/Cargo-company-claims-owns-three-jumbo-jets-abandoned-Malaysian-airport-officials-bought-newspaper-ads-belong-to.html

PTF: Can't wait for the next installment.

Just Joe

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Re: Astonishingly Awful Anti-mustachian Adventures
« Reply #13 on: December 14, 2016, 07:28:23 AM »
Wonder how long you can leave a car before they have it towed?

I know at repair shops (machine shops for example) I've seen signs that say you have 90 days to pick up your parts. One shop I use says 30 days. Then they sell your parts to pay for the services.

Once had a friend who was upset with a shop I use b/c they sold his cylinder heads after 90 days. He assumed they would wait until he was in the mood to pick them up next season?

TheGrimSqueaker

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Re: Astonishingly Awful Anti-mustachian Adventures
« Reply #14 on: December 14, 2016, 10:10:03 AM »
Well, if you read my intro post, I also believe all his terrible outcomes are a result of poor patterns of thinking, that's why I felt therapy was badly needed. But I can't attribute to malice what I'm certain is fully explained by gross incompetence.

It's possible, however it sounds like this guy has it together enough in other respects to have a successful career as a consultant and a high income. He's not incompetent overall.

Quote
His life is a mess and he suffers from a terminal case of magical thinking.  He believes a problem can be solved with money rather than common sense.  This car issue is just one of countless.   

But I've been doubting myself, wondering if I'm judging too harshly.  When talking to him he sounds perfectly sober and reasonable. It's like an alter reality.

It's very painful to witness a person who works so hard to dig himself out of a deep hole start burying himself in the same hole by utterly self destructive thinking.

Some problems can indeed be solved with money, if it's accompanied by a reasonable amount of proactivity and communication. The car thing, for example: at some point during the first month overseas, contacting the shop to arrange payment and contacting a representative or friend to come pick the car up and pay any storage fees would have been a good example.

I do agree that this guy's life isn't going to improve without some radical changes though.

AlanStache

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Re: Astonishingly Awful Anti-mustachian Adventures
« Reply #15 on: December 14, 2016, 10:23:50 AM »
Waiting for more stories!

bad luck: my bosses kid is like this.  On some level he does seem to have really bad luck but you sort of have to wonder if some of it is brought upon himself.  At one point the kid had a bunch of stuff piled in the back seat of his car and a blue bucket on top.  He gets pulled over for having what the cop says is something that could be used to impersonate a cop cars spinning light - it was a normal bucket.  Has to go to court and judge dismisses the bucket but somewhere in all this it is found out that the car did not have insurance or maybe registration for a few months while it was in the kids garage being worked on-totally legal but how do you prove you were not driving a car x months ago?  hassles and fines ensue.  I cant recall all the details and I suspect the kid may not have had the best attitude at all times but he has had a few similar 'WFT how unlucky can a guy get' episodes. 

BFGirl

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Re: Astonishingly Awful Anti-mustachian Adventures
« Reply #16 on: December 14, 2016, 11:42:41 AM »
If he is losing substantial sums of money due neglecting his affairs, it might actually be more cost efficient to hire a personal assistant to keep these things straightened out.

ysette9

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Re: Astonishingly Awful Anti-mustachian Adventures
« Reply #17 on: December 14, 2016, 12:05:23 PM »
Quote
my bosses

How many bosses do you have? ;-)

Sorry to be the grammar police, but there seems to be a very contagious disease of not understanding possessives floating around. Be sure to wash your hands frequently.

MgoSam

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Re: Astonishingly Awful Anti-mustachian Adventures
« Reply #18 on: December 14, 2016, 12:18:29 PM »
Quote
my bosses

How many bosses do you have? ;-)

Sorry to be the grammar police, but there seems to be a very contagious disease of not understanding possessives floating around. Be sure to wash your hands frequently.

His office could be going through a re-structuring and at the moment he could have 8 different bosses? #officespaced

bugbaby

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Re: Astonishingly Awful Anti-mustachian Adventures
« Reply #19 on: December 14, 2016, 12:36:14 PM »
Yes, he needs a personal assistant, that's clear. But he would never hire one. He believes he's got everything under control. When I was at his house he insisted on vacuuming just before a flight, even though I was sitting there idly and had already vacuumed and told him he'd miss his flight. Well, he missed the flight, duh! But I could not make him see the two were related. He had to get up at 4am to catch the next flight.

 Whether major or minor things he cannot accept any assistance, even for free. It's fascinating.

anyway,

The House.

So, in 2005 he moved from Cali after a divorce and collapse of his business etc. He started a job in which most of the pay was garnished (for tax, he has no kids) He bought a 3br 1500sqf town home for 190k though 1/2 of his staff went to storage.

But then, In 2006 he decides he needs a larger home (despite poor pay and heavy debt). Bought a 4br TH for 450k. So he has 2 mortgages.

But he Never moved into the home. It had mould issues which took over 2 yrs (luckily it's new and warranty covers).

Then he gets a job in the West coast and moves to rent there (still with 2 mortgages with one empty house. ) Then the ex-gf decides to move into the new home trying to get back with him but it doesn't work. She brings in friends who gut the kitchen and they steal all appliances and leave.

Meanwhile the west coast job refuses to renew contract due to poor credit &the IRS garnishment. He can't find a job for 9 months upon returning. So the new house isn't getting paid (during the'09-10 crisis). He could easily have got out it via the HARP program since he's unemployed but feels attached to this house he's never lived in.

FF to 2012 now he has contract work earning >200k. Bank sued him for $550k (incl interest  & fees) He spends >20k on lawyers, they all suggest giving up the house +/- bankruptcy. He insists he wants to keep it... Eventually the last lawyer drops him. He represents himself and sues the Bank for over 1m (pain suffering, they refused his mortgage checks etc).  So this year he goes to court and gets a Bankruptcy.

I've seen this house, it's in a crowded development with no yard. Today it's probably worth under 300k and you can get much better for that money. But _he never lived in it_ and is still paying 200/month storage for over 15 years!

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eyerishgold

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Re: Astonishingly Awful Anti-mustachian Adventures
« Reply #20 on: December 14, 2016, 12:43:50 PM »
Girlfriend Grief... House Horrors... Tax Terrors... Evil Employers... Pet Problems... Insane Interest... Lousy Lawyers... Shocking Shopping... Vanishing Vehicles... Ruined Retirement... Abused by Airline, Bankrupted by Bank, Conned by Colleague, Milked by Mechanic, Screwed by Store ... and on and on...

While the story is tragic, I thoroughly enjoyed your use of alliteration!

AlanStache

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Re: Astonishingly Awful Anti-mustachian Adventures
« Reply #21 on: December 14, 2016, 12:54:31 PM »
Quote
my bosses

How many bosses do you have? ;-)

Sorry to be the grammar police, but there seems to be a very contagious disease of not understanding possessives floating around. Be sure to wash your hands frequently.

His office could be going through a re-structuring and at the moment he could have 8 different bosses? #officespaced

we acutally dont have an org chart, I have one guy I mostly report to but because I an a rockstar-ninja I can be pulled onto other peoples projects and be reporting to any of a dozen people (who are more or less senior than me) as needed for a short time.  and in a larger sence my employment is based upon keeping th compay president happy not the guy I mostly report to.  the system has its pros and cons.

as far as possession of floats is concerned I assure you I very much understand workspace scopes and methods of data flow and exposure within an environment.

golden1

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Re: Astonishingly Awful Anti-mustachian Adventures
« Reply #22 on: December 14, 2016, 01:14:29 PM »
Yeah I have some family members like that.  My BIL is a painter, a very physical job, and he doesn't have health insurance because "he doesn't plan on getting hurt or sick".  Okay.....   He also decided not to pay taxes for ten years figuring he would not get caught.  Guess what?  Now he is paying back taxes plus interest.  He is sending craploads of money every month to his wife's family too and eating out every meal.  He just keeps making the same mistakes over and over and there is no reasoning with him.  Me and DH just decided we would never loan him any money, and we let him make his mistakes.    my inlaws keep floating him loans. 

NoStacheOhio

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Re: Astonishingly Awful Anti-mustachian Adventures
« Reply #23 on: December 14, 2016, 01:28:24 PM »
Following the crap out of this thread!

mm1970

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Re: Astonishingly Awful Anti-mustachian Adventures
« Reply #24 on: December 14, 2016, 05:02:56 PM »

Is this just bad luck, or can car shops do this if you're not returning their calls???


Of course they can, and it's got nothing to do with luck. It's an extremely reasonable response to being conned. The lawyer should have told him so.

Leaving a high-end car for a minor repair so as to trick a dealer or mechanic into providing weeks or months of free storage is an old con used by people who don't want to pay for climate controlled parking or security. It happens all the time in high-COL areas where it's expensive to park and store a vehicle.


Yup, reminds me of a joke I heard where a man walks into a NYC bank to borrow $1000 for two weeks, they ask for collateral and he hands over his Benz, they take it to their garage and he goes on vacation and comes back and pays the loan plus $20 in interest. The manager says, "Sir we found out that you're exceptionally wealthy, why would you need to borrow $1000?" The guy says, "Oh, where else can you park a car in NYC for $20."

On a side note, my mechanic allowed 2 days to pick up your car otherwise he charges a daily storage fee. It hasn't been an issue for me as he's a block from work.

except you got the joke wrong - I've heard it as a dumb blond (female) joke.

auntie_betty

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Re: Astonishingly Awful Anti-mustachian Adventures
« Reply #25 on: December 15, 2016, 12:35:04 AM »


So, in 2005 he moved from Cali after a divorce and collapse of his business etc. He started a job in which most of the pay was garnished (for tax, he has no kids) He bought a 3br 1500sqf town home for 190k though 1/2 of his staff went to storage.



He put half his staff in storage? Are they still there? Wow, that's some back bill he'll have!

marty998

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Re: Astonishingly Awful Anti-mustachian Adventures
« Reply #26 on: December 15, 2016, 04:59:55 AM »


So, in 2005 he moved from Cali after a divorce and collapse of his business etc. He started a job in which most of the pay was garnished (for tax, he has no kids) He bought a 3br 1500sqf town home for 190k though 1/2 of his staff went to storage.



He put half his staff in storage? Are they still there? Wow, that's some back bill he'll have!

Thank-you for pointing out what I was too shocked/embarrassed to!

bugbaby

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Re: Astonishingly Awful Anti-mustachian Adventures
« Reply #27 on: December 15, 2016, 10:15:09 AM »


So, in 2005 he moved from Cali after a divorce and collapse of his business etc. He started a job in which most of the pay was garnished (for tax, he has no kids) He bought a 3br 1500sqf town home for 190k though 1/2 of his staff went to storage.



He put half his staff in storage? Are they still there? Wow, that's some back bill he'll have!

Thank-you for pointing out what I was too shocked/embarrassed to!
Hehehe, he had some loyal staff, they're still in his storage unit...

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TheGrimSqueaker

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Re: Astonishingly Awful Anti-mustachian Adventures
« Reply #28 on: December 15, 2016, 11:56:51 AM »


So, in 2005 he moved from Cali after a divorce and collapse of his business etc. He started a job in which most of the pay was garnished (for tax, he has no kids) He bought a 3br 1500sqf town home for 190k though 1/2 of his staff went to storage.



He put half his staff in storage? Are they still there? Wow, that's some back bill he'll have!

Thank-you for pointing out what I was too shocked/embarrassed to!
Hehehe, he had some loyal staff, they're still in his storage unit...

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Yeah, OSHA will be hearing about that.

carolinap

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Re: Astonishingly Awful Anti-mustachian Adventures
« Reply #29 on: December 19, 2016, 10:41:32 PM »
Waiting for Pet Problems and Dreadful Divorce ~

Apples

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Re: Astonishingly Awful Anti-mustachian Adventures
« Reply #30 on: December 22, 2016, 12:41:34 PM »
and Evil Employers!

RWD

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Re: Astonishingly Awful Anti-mustachian Adventures
« Reply #31 on: December 22, 2016, 09:45:08 PM »
Following the crap out of this thread!

Second!

cavewoman

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Re: Astonishingly Awful Anti-mustachian Adventures
« Reply #32 on: December 30, 2016, 04:48:30 PM »
Can't wait to read more. I love these serial threads!

BlueMR2

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Re: Astonishingly Awful Anti-mustachian Adventures
« Reply #33 on: December 31, 2016, 05:50:30 AM »
Has to go to court and judge dismisses the bucket but somewhere in all this it is found out that the car did not have insurance or maybe registration for a few months while it was in the kids garage being worked on-totally legal but how do you prove you were not driving a car x months ago?

That was common practice around here, take the insurance off while in storage for Winter, etc.  Not legal in this area anymore.  If the registration is current, there MUST be current insurance as well.

The enforcement of it is very annoying too.  I got a letter from the DMV awhile back requiring proof of insurance during a time frame multiple years before that.  I had to really scramble to try and find any kind of paperwork that could confirm my insurance status for that random time period.  Not being able to provide it is an automatic license suspension even though there' absolutely NO proof that you've done anything wrong.  It's up to you to try and find long obsolete documents and prove that you're not guilty of something that there's no reason to suspect you of in the first place.  It really needs to be a thing that we can jail those that manage to pass completely idiotic laws/regulations like that.  With no worries of punishment, our civil servants continue to enact abusive policies...

cchrissyy

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Re: Astonishingly Awful Anti-mustachian Adventures
« Reply #34 on: December 31, 2016, 10:30:26 AM »
Hard to get "fired" by a lawyer.  Your friend is probably impossible to work with and likely wasn't paying them.

NoStacheOhio

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Re: Astonishingly Awful Anti-mustachian Adventures
« Reply #35 on: December 31, 2016, 11:34:34 AM »
Has to go to court and judge dismisses the bucket but somewhere in all this it is found out that the car did not have insurance or maybe registration for a few months while it was in the kids garage being worked on-totally legal but how do you prove you were not driving a car x months ago?

That was common practice around here, take the insurance off while in storage for Winter, etc.  Not legal in this area anymore.  If the registration is current, there MUST be current insurance as well.

The enforcement of it is very annoying too.  I got a letter from the DMV awhile back requiring proof of insurance during a time frame multiple years before that.  I had to really scramble to try and find any kind of paperwork that could confirm my insurance status for that random time period.  Not being able to provide it is an automatic license suspension even though there' absolutely NO proof that you've done anything wrong.  It's up to you to try and find long obsolete documents and prove that you're not guilty of something that there's no reason to suspect you of in the first place.  It really needs to be a thing that we can jail those that manage to pass completely idiotic laws/regulations like that.  With no worries of punishment, our civil servants continue to enact abusive policies...

I've heard of random proof of insurance checks through the mail, but only for the current time period (i.e. send us a copy of your current insurance documents). Never going back years into the past. Who keeps that stuff?

It's always irritated me that they want you to sign a financial liability promise, but never bother to check it. Just check it when I'm doing my DL renewal or registration and don't bother me!

MrAlanBreck

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Re: Astonishingly Awful Anti-mustachian Adventures
« Reply #36 on: January 02, 2017, 08:01:59 AM »
Hard to get "fired" by a lawyer.  Your friend is probably impossible to work with and likely wasn't paying them.

Yup, they also avoid cases that can hurt them personally. 

One of my buddies went through a divorce.  From a friend's recommendation, he hired a real hot-shot lawyer.  Extremely good, extremely pricey, and extremely big ego.  MY buddy almost got "fired" by his lawyer a few times when he did stupid things that damaged his case against the recommendations of the lawyer.   The dumb shenanigans was typical stuff.   Angry texts to ex-wife, stonewalling, mugslinging, etc.  Most of it was started by the ex-wife, but that's no excuse.  All of it was making the lawyer look very bad. 

In the end they finally started working together, the lawyer completely wrecked his wife's case in court, and he got a fair ruling.  That's about as happy an ending as you can get in a divorce case.

Between money and reputation, good lawyers will pick reputation.

bugbaby

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Re: Astonishingly Awful Anti-mustachian Adventures
« Reply #37 on: January 02, 2017, 12:58:49 PM »
Hard to get "fired" by a lawyer.  Your friend is probably impossible to work with and likely wasn't paying them.

Yup, they also avoid cases that can hurt them personally. 

One of my buddies went through a divorce.  From a friend's recommendation, he hired a real hot-shot lawyer.  Extremely good, extremely pricey, and extremely big ego.  MY buddy almost got "fired" by his lawyer a few times when he did stupid things that damaged his case against the recommendations of the lawyer.   The dumb shenanigans was typical stuff.   Angry texts to ex-wife, stonewalling, mugslinging, etc.  Most of it was started by the ex-wife, but that's no excuse.  All of it was making the lawyer look very bad. 

In the end they finally started working together, the lawyer completely wrecked his wife's case in court, and he got a fair ruling.  That's about as happy an ending as you can get in a divorce case.

Between money and reputation, good lawyers will pick reputation.
I'm start to think my friend 'Herzog' (this is OP) must be blacklisted by lawyers or something. Take his divorce, it went so badly for him that it couldn't be worse if he hired a lawyer for his ex specifically to clean him out.

I mean they had a $5 million home almost paid off, and another $1m+ paid off rental home. She got both. She had also moved out all their cash (over $1m).

She literally got it all. He had to rent. She even got _his_ dog and he had to pay dog-support of $200/month for several years.

She was having an affair with his colleague's husband. He found out when the colleague told him and thanked him for supporting them all (the other man was broke but was able to leave his wife their house & pay her expenses by moving into Herzog's home with Herzog's ex-wife.)

That was the beginning of his slide down...

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk


Candace

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Re: Astonishingly Awful Anti-mustachian Adventures
« Reply #38 on: January 02, 2017, 01:00:51 PM »
Wow, that's truly impressive.

TheGrimSqueaker

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Re: Astonishingly Awful Anti-mustachian Adventures
« Reply #39 on: January 02, 2017, 05:13:30 PM »
Hard to get "fired" by a lawyer.  Your friend is probably impossible to work with and likely wasn't paying them.

Yup, they also avoid cases that can hurt them personally. 

One of my buddies went through a divorce.  From a friend's recommendation, he hired a real hot-shot lawyer.  Extremely good, extremely pricey, and extremely big ego.  MY buddy almost got "fired" by his lawyer a few times when he did stupid things that damaged his case against the recommendations of the lawyer.   The dumb shenanigans was typical stuff.   Angry texts to ex-wife, stonewalling, mugslinging, etc.  Most of it was started by the ex-wife, but that's no excuse.  All of it was making the lawyer look very bad. 

In the end they finally started working together, the lawyer completely wrecked his wife's case in court, and he got a fair ruling.  That's about as happy an ending as you can get in a divorce case.

Between money and reputation, good lawyers will pick reputation.
I'm start to think my friend 'Herzog' (this is OP) must be blacklisted by lawyers or something. Take his divorce, it went so badly for him that it couldn't be worse if he hired a lawyer for his ex specifically to clean him out.

I mean they had a $5 million home almost paid off, and another $1m+ paid off rental home. She got both. She had also moved out all their cash (over $1m).

She literally got it all. He had to rent. She even got _his_ dog and he had to pay dog-support of $200/month for several years.

She was having an affair with his colleague's husband. He found out when the colleague told him and thanked him for supporting them all (the other man was broke but was able to leave his wife their house & pay her expenses by moving into Herzog's home with Herzog's ex-wife.)

That was the beginning of his slide down...

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

Even Wozzeck didn't have it this bad.
« Last Edit: January 02, 2017, 05:15:19 PM by TheGrimSqueaker »

Cassie

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Re: Astonishingly Awful Anti-mustachian Adventures
« Reply #40 on: January 02, 2017, 05:31:30 PM »
Following!

MrAlanBreck

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Re: Astonishingly Awful Anti-mustachian Adventures
« Reply #41 on: January 03, 2017, 06:55:15 AM »
Hard to get "fired" by a lawyer.  Your friend is probably impossible to work with and likely wasn't paying them.

Yup, they also avoid cases that can hurt them personally. 

One of my buddies went through a divorce.  From a friend's recommendation, he hired a real hot-shot lawyer.  Extremely good, extremely pricey, and extremely big ego.  MY buddy almost got "fired" by his lawyer a few times when he did stupid things that damaged his case against the recommendations of the lawyer.   The dumb shenanigans was typical stuff.   Angry texts to ex-wife, stonewalling, mugslinging, etc.  Most of it was started by the ex-wife, but that's no excuse.  All of it was making the lawyer look very bad. 

In the end they finally started working together, the lawyer completely wrecked his wife's case in court, and he got a fair ruling.  That's about as happy an ending as you can get in a divorce case.

Between money and reputation, good lawyers will pick reputation.
I'm start to think my friend 'Herzog' (this is OP) must be blacklisted by lawyers or something. Take his divorce, it went so badly for him that it couldn't be worse if he hired a lawyer for his ex specifically to clean him out.

I mean they had a $5 million home almost paid off, and another $1m+ paid off rental home. She got both. She had also moved out all their cash (over $1m).

She literally got it all. He had to rent. She even got _his_ dog and he had to pay dog-support of $200/month for several years.

She was having an affair with his colleague's husband. He found out when the colleague told him and thanked him for supporting them all (the other man was broke but was able to leave his wife their house & pay her expenses by moving into Herzog's home with Herzog's ex-wife.)

That was the beginning of his slide down...

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk



She even got _his_ dog and he had to pay dog-support of $200/month for several years.

Okay.  I want off this planet.

infogoon

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Re: Astonishingly Awful Anti-mustachian Adventures
« Reply #42 on: January 03, 2017, 07:52:31 AM »
Has to go to court and judge dismisses the bucket but somewhere in all this it is found out that the car did not have insurance or maybe registration for a few months while it was in the kids garage being worked on-totally legal but how do you prove you were not driving a car x months ago?

That was common practice around here, take the insurance off while in storage for Winter, etc.  Not legal in this area anymore.  If the registration is current, there MUST be current insurance as well.

It's common around here as well. There was recently a large fire at an old industrial site nearby; it was a steel mill that had been repurposed to store cars and boats. A lot of the people storing their vehicles decided to save a few bucks by taking off the insurance for the winter. Whoops.

MgoSam

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Re: Astonishingly Awful Anti-mustachian Adventures
« Reply #43 on: January 03, 2017, 08:36:04 AM »
Hard to get "fired" by a lawyer.  Your friend is probably impossible to work with and likely wasn't paying them.

Yup, they also avoid cases that can hurt them personally. 

One of my buddies went through a divorce.  From a friend's recommendation, he hired a real hot-shot lawyer.  Extremely good, extremely pricey, and extremely big ego.  MY buddy almost got "fired" by his lawyer a few times when he did stupid things that damaged his case against the recommendations of the lawyer.   The dumb shenanigans was typical stuff.   Angry texts to ex-wife, stonewalling, mugslinging, etc.  Most of it was started by the ex-wife, but that's no excuse.  All of it was making the lawyer look very bad. 

In the end they finally started working together, the lawyer completely wrecked his wife's case in court, and he got a fair ruling.  That's about as happy an ending as you can get in a divorce case.

Between money and reputation, good lawyers will pick reputation.
I'm start to think my friend 'Herzog' (this is OP) must be blacklisted by lawyers or something. Take his divorce, it went so badly for him that it couldn't be worse if he hired a lawyer for his ex specifically to clean him out.

I mean they had a $5 million home almost paid off, and another $1m+ paid off rental home. She got both. She had also moved out all their cash (over $1m).

She literally got it all. He had to rent. She even got _his_ dog and he had to pay dog-support of $200/month for several years.

She was having an affair with his colleague's husband. He found out when the colleague told him and thanked him for supporting them all (the other man was broke but was able to leave his wife their house & pay her expenses by moving into Herzog's home with Herzog's ex-wife.)

That was the beginning of his slide down...

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk



She even got _his_ dog and he had to pay dog-support of $200/month for several years.

Okay.  I want off this planet.

I don't know how typical this story is, but hearing it (and others that are similar) make me extremely wary of the concept of marriage.

MichaelB

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Re: Astonishingly Awful Anti-mustachian Adventures
« Reply #44 on: January 03, 2017, 08:55:14 AM »
Posting to follow!

gardeningandgreen

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Re: Astonishingly Awful Anti-mustachian Adventures
« Reply #45 on: January 03, 2017, 09:42:57 AM »
I didn't even know dog support was a thing... Wow...

With This Herring

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Re: Astonishingly Awful Anti-mustachian Adventures
« Reply #46 on: January 03, 2017, 01:52:34 PM »
Hard to get "fired" by a lawyer.  Your friend is probably impossible to work with and likely wasn't paying them.

Yup, they also avoid cases that can hurt them personally. 

One of my buddies went through a divorce.  From a friend's recommendation, he hired a real hot-shot lawyer.  Extremely good, extremely pricey, and extremely big ego.  MY buddy almost got "fired" by his lawyer a few times when he did stupid things that damaged his case against the recommendations of the lawyer.   The dumb shenanigans was typical stuff.   Angry texts to ex-wife, stonewalling, mugslinging, etc.  Most of it was started by the ex-wife, but that's no excuse.  All of it was making the lawyer look very bad. 

In the end they finally started working together, the lawyer completely wrecked his wife's case in court, and he got a fair ruling.  That's about as happy an ending as you can get in a divorce case.

Between money and reputation, good lawyers will pick reputation.
I'm start to think my friend 'Herzog' (this is OP) must be blacklisted by lawyers or something. Take his divorce, it went so badly for him that it couldn't be worse if he hired a lawyer for his ex specifically to clean him out.

I mean they had a $5 million home almost paid off, and another $1m+ paid off rental home. She got both. She had also moved out all their cash (over $1m).

She literally got it all. He had to rent. She even got _his_ dog and he had to pay dog-support of $200/month for several years.

She was having an affair with his colleague's husband. He found out when the colleague told him and thanked him for supporting them all (the other man was broke but was able to leave his wife their house & pay her expenses by moving into Herzog's home with Herzog's ex-wife.)

That was the beginning of his slide down...

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk



She even got _his_ dog and he had to pay dog-support of $200/month for several years.

Okay.  I want off this planet.

I don't know how typical this story is, but hearing it (and others that are similar) make me extremely wary of the concept of marriage.

To be fair, look at all the other stories surrounding this guy.  Considering that he seems to be his own problem in all the other tales, it makes me think that he is probably the reason that he got what appears to be the short end of the stick.  I'd love to know what the ex-wife's explanation would be of what happened. 

For example, see this part of the original post:

*snip*
He traded stocks including penny stocks and did great. I warned him to only play with a small fraction and leave the rest in index funds. He had just started a SEP-IRA and was maxing it.

Well, this year he mentions he's lost a bunch and very indignantly blames Schwab, stopped dealing with them and never opens their mail. He also abandoned the SEP-IRA and no longer contributes.

This is just the tip of the iceberg. He also stopped opening letters from IRS who have a lien on his house. Last year he bought a Benz that he's spent 15k on repair but very rarely drives. Last year he bought a BMW that he has literally lost without a trace. This year he filed bankruptcy.  Stay tuned, this goes further.....
*snip*

This is followed by other stories of him just blowing through money in stupid ways.  It makes me wonder if they had $14M+, then he blew $7M trading penny stocks and lying about it, and then the judge decided the only fair thing was for ex-wife to take the remaining assets of $7M.  Couple this with him being fired by lawyers and suggesting to OP that if OP gets a bad reference from former employers that "[OP] should sue!" and I wonder if he managed to tick off the divorce judge enough to cause the judge to order the pittance for dog support.  (Because, really, with these kinds of numbers, $200/month is nothing.)

Daleth

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Re: Astonishingly Awful Anti-mustachian Adventures
« Reply #47 on: January 03, 2017, 02:32:51 PM »
Here's another vote for Vanishing Vehicle!  Was it repossessed, or did he literally lose it by driving it somewhere and forgetting where he parked...

My husband had a friend who used to do that. Quite often. And he wasn't old at all, just... not altogether there.

Daleth

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Re: Astonishingly Awful Anti-mustachian Adventures
« Reply #48 on: January 03, 2017, 02:41:43 PM »
Take his divorce, it went so badly for him that it couldn't be worse if he hired a lawyer for his ex specifically to clean him out.

I mean they had a $5 million home almost paid off, and another $1m+ paid off rental home. She got both. She had also moved out all their cash (over $1m).

She literally got it all. He had to rent. She even got _his_ dog and he had to pay dog-support of $200/month for several years.

She was having an affair with his colleague's husband. He found out when the colleague told him and thanked him for supporting them all (the other man was broke but was able to leave his wife their house & pay her expenses by moving into Herzog's home with Herzog's ex-wife.)

Um. I can all but guarantee you that's not what happened. Giving everything that both parties paid for to one spouse is not how divorce works, legally.

You're hearing only his side of the story, and it may not include the fact that, for example, she inherited the $1M rental from her late grandma, or almost all the money for the down payment and mortgage on their $5M home came from her, or although he paid his share of the mortgage for a couple of years here and there, she paid off hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt that he brought to the marriage...

Cowardly Toaster

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Re: Astonishingly Awful Anti-mustachian Adventures
« Reply #49 on: January 03, 2017, 02:49:35 PM »

[/quote]

She literally got it all. He had to rent. She even got _his_ dog and he had to pay dog-support of $200/month for several years.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
[/quote]

Dog support? Is that a thing? Now I've heard it all