My "Unusual" German Story

At some point in the late 1990s.....I sat and was watching some German regional state-run network which was running a business-and-personal story episode where people would call in and relate unfortunate episodes that had occurred to them.

So, there's this German guy who calls into the show.  He'd had this unfortunate episode occur.

For several years, he'd been talking about renovating his roof....but always looking over the cost factor.  So one day, there's this ad in the local paper with all these new house tiles for sale, with a price noted and a cellphone number.  An unbelievable deal based on the price listed....if it were true.

So he calls this number, and the guy tells some sob-story of a project that occurred and he'd over-ordered, so he had a whole trailer-load of tiles left over.  Where he wanted to meet....was not his house, but a local fast-food parking lot.  He noted....he wanted cash.

The two guys meet, and it's just like he said.....new bricks, name-brand deal on the back, upscale type, etc.  The price?  It was roughly thirty to forty percent off what they'd normally cost.

The two talked the price, and eventually the buyer even got another 200-odd Deutschmarks (the old currency) off the deal.

They shift all the tiles from the seller's trailer to the buyer's trailer.  Cash is exchanged.....if I remember correctly.....more than 12,000 DM's (roughly 6,000 Euro by today's standards).

Days go by and the buyer finally has a roofer come by and check out the project, and then happily shows him the new tiles on the trailer.

The roofer inspects the tiles.....then grins.  These are a particular Asbestos-type, which had been forbidden for sale for at least six to eight years, and no roofer would touch the job.   As the guy tried to find any roofer to do the job.....same answer comes up each time.

The buyer now realizes that he's got tiles that can't be used.  After months of sitting around.....he finally decides to give up and deposit the tiles at some local city-run garbage dump.  They inspect the tiles....then write up the fee for asbestos tiles ....another hefty amount into the thousands.  He didn't want to pay the fee.

So he drives the tiles back home.  He makes the decision over the next year to slowly....tile by tile....dump them in dumpsters or garbage cans around the city.  All illegally done of course.  All would have gotten heavily fined if the cops ever figured out the whole episode.