Corporate takeovers, 1960s style
This happened long before I was born but my dad was in the room as a representative of the staff. A medium-sized precision engineering firm called Foxalls & Sons had been bought by Krupp, and Herr Krupp himself had come to its home counties offices to sign the contracts and meet his new employees

Small talk doesnt come easy to former nazi 'war production leaders' so he asked Mr.Foxall, the retiring MD, if he had ever been to Germany. Which Foxall had apparently been waiting for all day..

"Oh yes, 28 times, including to your splendid factories at Essen. But I never landed.."

Krupp looked puzzled

"... flying a Lancaster"

Exactly half the room laughed. None of them German.
(Carpe Cyprinidae, Sat 24 Aug 2013, 18:01, 5 replies)

you realise this is an incredibly old and well-known chestnut and almost certainly didn't involve your dad ... right?

(alright alright, Sat 24 Aug 2013, 18:26, closed)

A lot of my dad's stories are like that - however the names I quoted of the company aren't the usual fictional ones, the takeover really happened and I have heard this story through more than one source since my dad told me it.

Whether Foxalls was the origin of the chestnut or it was a common 1960s joke (the situation probably wasnt uncommon) - I have reason to believe it really happened.
(Carpe Cyprinidae, Sat 24 Aug 2013, 20:34, closed)

You are either a fucking moron or a fucking liar
This joke has gone around since 1946 and it is told two ways - the Lufthanser Pilot who gets lost when trying to find the terminal at Heathrow, who when asked by the tower have you been to London before, and he replies, yes many times but, I didn't land or the reverse withe BA pilot at Frankfurt. You told the slight variant with the industrialists.

When caught out bullshitting like this, don't defend it as true, it makes you look like more of a fuckwit.

Here ends the lesson.
(bad_advice QOTW survivor from the first trollocost!, Tue 27 Aug 2013, 3:03, closed)