The Italian shirt salesman and a tank of petrol

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This morning started normally enough - I had breakfast in the hotel before heading up the Kurfürstendamm and towards Tiergarten in search of the German Resistance Memorial Exhibition. Along the way a man pulled over in a late model black mercedes asking for directions to the autobahn, when I said that I didnt know and I wasnt a local he asked where I was from and I told him Australia.

He threw out his hand for a shake and I reciprocated, "...You are Kangaroo Australia!!..." he said most enthusiastically. It is here where the conversation changed tack.

He offered me (at first free of charge) four Emporio Armani shirts "...worth 66 euros each..." he stated. They were nicely packed in a small suitpack. His handshake moved beyond the duration of a normal handshake, 30 seconds, 40 seconds.

"....66 euros each! quality!..."

I agreed that they looked like quality. however I politely refused but he offered again and again I refused but he insisted.

Not wanting to insult the man I took the shirts, it was then that he made the real offer:

"....can you please pay me some money for a tank of petrol in return for these shirts?..."

I declined but he continued to push his offer.

"...four shirts worth more than 200 euros!..."

Again I declined but then decided to see how serious he was;

"I have no evidence that they are genuine Armani so I will give you 10 euros for them..." was my first ridiculous offer. He rejected it with a cheesy smile. "...Quality! Quality!..." he kept saying.

The conversation was going nowhere, so I decided to end it. He then provided me his business card to show that he was bonafide, however I really wasnt interested in getting into a dodgy business deal or something more sinister. I politely declined, he accepted and I headed off.

Admittedly the shirts looked pretty good however the offer seemed to good to refuse.

Perhaps he is a victim of the global financial crisis (maybe a salesman down on his luck). I really couldnt tell but I was keen to get away from him as quickly as possible!

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