Tales From Dishonest Used Car Dealership

The phrase "His girlfriend lived on an island west of the city..." from The friends and Family Deal supports the western WA hypothesis.

The0retical wrote: Took me a while to place it but the writing style reminds me of the BOFH stories. Which is to say amazing.

Man, I forgot about these. Part of what pushed me towards computers in my younger days. What a way to waste some time.

In reply to Javelin:

Now I have to know.... I have been waffling between Seattle and Bham

Chadeux wrote: Just read both parts of The Fire. Did not expect the feels trip at the end.

That one brought tears to my eyes. He's a very good writer trapped in a very bad car dealership (at least for most of the stories).

In reply to MadScientistMatt:

Yea, that was pretty awful. I can say with confidence Rom and The Amazon are thoroughly terrible human beings.

In reply to java230:

I don't think it's Bham because he mentions having gone to school in a small town in the north, and Western is in BHam with nothing else north of it. Not to mention the whole lake thing, Seattle is the only city with a lake smack dab in the middle of it.

In reply to Javelin:

That's true, I think he mentions a bridge too in one of the stories, which Bham sure doesnt have a bridge on the lake.

He mentions "city of 4 million" a few times too, which would be about right for Seattle metro area, according to Google.

Javelin wrote: I think I know what dealership it was...

Don't leave us hanging! Though the only kayak manufacturing in Seattle is Easy Rider, as far as I know.

I think it might be florida. The parties suggest cash, and there's plenty of private islands out here. Only wildcard is the ice. That doesn't happen, pretty much ever. Finding people to match those characters would be easy enough.

In reply to mndsm:

Pretty damn sure it's Seattle, city shuts down for snow, lake in the middle of the city, islands in the correct area, always grey drizzle in the winter.

Really interested to know. It was a great read, kinda sad he seems to have dropped off the earth. I enjoyed his writing.

I suspect that the car dealership was located around here.

"There he goes. One of God’s own prototypes.

I just about snorted yogurt out my nose.

This led down a rabbit hole. There are lots of good stories there.

I liked this one, because of the reference to Agnes Nitt.

Brett_Murphy wrote: This led down a rabbit hole. There are lots of good stories there. I liked this one, because of the reference to Agnes Nitt.

Well, I lost it at:

"So the overall effect was of a faded-salmon economy E36 M3box from the Reagan administration that appeared to be violently menstruating from the back wheels."

The0retical wrote:

"There he goes. One of God’s own prototypes.

I just about snorted yogurt out my nose.

That's a Hunter S Thompson quote, IIRC.

Well now I am going to have to read this. The wife will be gone for a few days, so I will have plenty of time.

Keith Tanner wrote:

The0retical wrote:

"There he goes. One of God’s own prototypes.

I just about snorted yogurt out my nose.

That's a Hunter S Thompson quote, IIRC.

You recalled correctly.

Jerry From LA wrote:

Keith Tanner wrote:

The0retical wrote:

"There he goes. One of God’s own prototypes.

I just about snorted yogurt out my nose.

That's a Hunter S Thompson quote, IIRC.

You recalled correctly.

Huh, I've never read the book and only watched Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas once. I don't recall most of it. I'm more of a Douglas Adams man myself.

There he goes. One of God's own prototypes. A high-powered mutant of some kind never even considered for mass production. Too weird to live, and too rare to die.

-HST

I often describe my self as God's own prototype. I'm usually the weirdo in the room.

Appleseed wrote: I often describe my self as God's own prototype. I'm usually the weirdo in the room.

We're all bozos on this bus.

The0retical wrote:

Jerry From LA wrote:

Keith Tanner wrote:

The0retical wrote:

"There he goes. One of God’s own prototypes.

I just about snorted yogurt out my nose.

That's a Hunter S Thompson quote, IIRC.

You recalled correctly.

Huh, I've never read the book and only watched Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas once. I don't recall most of it. I'm more of a Douglas Adams man myself.

I view Hunter S Thompson the way a lot of people seem to view Ayn Rand: eye-opening and mind-expanding when you're, like, 14, but actually just kind of a shiny happy person when reread as an adult.

So it looks like I've figured out which dealership it was. Man, are the google reviews bad on this one.

In reply to G_Body_Man:

They're long since closed, correct? Any harm in sharing?

In reply to Pete Gossett:

...yes and no (this is where it gets weird). It looks like the same company didn't close, they just relocated and now appear to be operating under a different name. They don't do any of the weird "eco" stuff anymore, but the backbone of their business is the same so you can see why I'm a little weary of spilling the beans.