>Saw today that my mate and ex-boss, Gunter, has a flash new Mercedes as his company car.

And good on him, too.
If you’re one of the head honchos of a big company, you certainly deserve it.

I’ve never really placed much value on vehicles as a status symbol.
I ran around in a variety of Fiat Unos and Hondas for a long time and when someone once said “I’m surprised that someone in your position would drive a car like that”, I thought “You prick”

But I accept that – in certain circumstances – it’s important.

After I started a fairly senior sales job a few years back, we were planning the logistics around a presentation for an overseas customer (fairly biggish airline) and I was picking up their VP Cargo from his hotel. and someone else was picking up their local manager from his office and so on.

And then my boss asked “What sort of cars are we driving tomorrow?”

Audi, Mercedes, my Saab 9.3. All meet approval.

Then he told the story.

Another presentation a while back and one of the techies had offered to pick up the customer from the airport.

Turned up safe and sound and we’re doing the usual “How’s the hotel, how was the flight, was the pick-up OK?” sort of bullshit conversation, when the customer – an American, built like an NFL line backer. 6’5″, 130kg – says

“That was an interesting car that Hans picked me up in. I think it used to be a refrigerator”

Quite ironic for an American, which impressed me no end, but it turned out that Hans had a white and rust Fiat Panda, tinny little engine that sounds like a motor mower and a back seat full of kids toys and safety seats, no boot (sorry…trunk) to speak of and reeking of dead nappies and stale kiddy chunder.

Took about 10 minutes to fold this giant into the front seat and stow his luggage and about the same time to extract him at the end of the journey. (Which must have seemed like an eternity

I think he breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the Mercedes at the end of the day….