Very Unpleasant Indeed former Audi owner encounter...

[Audial@aol.com]

Last night I went to a local convenience store to pick up some soda on my way
home from the office.  I had my copy of the Bentley under my arm and the guy
behind the cash register noticed the Audi logo and asked what the book was
about.  I told him that it was the factory repair manual for my car and said
that I was doing some work on it.  I was about to tell him what a wonderful
car it was in spite of its little quirks and what a steal I got it for, but I
never got the chance.  

His face twisted into a fist and he launched into a loud, belligerent tirade,
which could be overheard by practically everyone in the store, about what a
TERRIBLE company Audi was and what CRAPPY cars they made (he had owned and
driven precisely one).  He took my money but before giving back my change he
held me up at the register for about 5 minutes detailing every discontentment
he had had with his '87 4000CS (mostly minor mechanical/electrical and
cosmetic faults, no major components) and his dealer and the legal action he
had taken and the frustrations he endured, and said finally that Audis
weren't worth the gasoline you'd use to BURN one up and anyone who buys one
ought to have their HEAD examined, etc., etc., etc.  I got the sense that if
Ferdinand Pietch (sp?) had been in line he would have tried to lynch him.
 Straining at the leash, I tell you!

I wanted to punch the guy in the nose, not just for being so discourteous and
insulting to a customer, making me feel like an idiot in front of the
assembled patrons, but also because it became increasingly clear as he
continued to vent his rage that this was the sort of person who generates
more problems for himself with his attitude than could ever possibly exist on
their own.  His tale just became more  fantastic and horrible as it went on.
 I began to imagine that because of his Audi he had lost his job as an
prominent neurosurgeon, become a derelict drug addict, been thrown in the
klink, and wound up after years of pointless, lonely drifting in his dead-end
convenience-store job.  

I know there are probably some flaky dealers who sell some true lemons out
there, but if they are faced with customers who need therapy I sympathize.
 I'm glad this guy isn't driving an Audi any more.  I'm not sure he should be
driving anything more potentially frustrating than a toy choo-choo.

His anger was so intense that it jarred my memory of the passage from de
Tocqueville where he comments on Americans, "...and then they vent their
pomposity from one end of a harangue to the other."  Dude knocked me back to
the nineteenth century!

All I wanted was a little Boku! (actually Diet Coke)

Best Wishes,

Maintain your equilibrium,

Alex Kowalski
'86 5KCSTQ