Back From Frankfurt

I just got back from Frankfurt after attending our annual trade fair there. More about Frankfurt later, but I want to share a story I heard in my booth....

A clearly Arab gentleman entered our booth and was interested in a certain product. He had a cross-bandage on the bridge of his nose and his hand was wrapped in a bandage that disappeared into his coat sleve. He was from Saudi-Arabia so I'm assuming he was a Sunni Muslim. Further evidence of that is that he had a striking resemblence to a young Saddam Hussein and the classic Sunni mustache. More evidence is in the story.

After he asked about our product, a gentleman from Cyprus came in and asked him if he was the one that got mugged on the train platform. He said he was, and then started to explain. The story went something like this...

There were three of them: one man and two women. They did the only jam-and-pick scam where they use the opportunity of people being crowded in an area to pick pockets. The guy took my wallet and I noticed right away so I grabbed him and told him to give it back. Then he head-butted me which is how I got the bandage on my nose. I hit him with my free hand and that is when he pulled the knife out and stabbed me in the left hand that I was holding him with, but I didn't let go. I'm from Baghdad, so this was really no big deal for me. It took the police a half an hour to get there, but I just kept hanging on. It turns out the guy who mugged me was an Algerian with no papers. Imagine that, he goes for another Arab.

At this point the Cypran and myself are just staring at the guy with our mouths agape. I'm not sure what to say so I offer him a coffee or a coke. He says, "no thanks" and then he asks me if I'm an American. I reply that I am and he says with a big smile, "Yeah, they are the ones who trained me." Then he walked out.

That was the best story I've heard in a while.