19.2.07

A GOOD BUSINESS CELEBRATION

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Pookie in her "red zone" Image Hosted by ImageShack.us When I first saw the word "celebrate" I thought that's a difficult one. Besides the traditional celebrations for birth, birthdays, engagements, weddings and maybe sometimes funerals, there is not much left to celebrate.

But then I remembered the celebration of a very good business deal.

At my first working place we made subtitles for movies. Special letters you could put together to make a phrase. The company consisted of my Boss, a secretary and myself.

When the international Toy fair in Nürnberg (Germany) took place he decided to open a booth there together with his German partner Josh. I had to come with him to translate into german, as a booth decoration and also to present the letters to eventual futur customers. The booth was small, but nice and we had quite a lot of success.

The last day both decided to celebrate the very good result they had made at this fair. For that they wanted to see the "red light zone" in Nürnberg. The question came up then, what to do with me ?? They asked me what I wanted to do and as I already was a very curious person, I said "I come with you" (I was 22 and it was in the 60th). They gave me a doubtful look, shrugged and then agreed.

As it was quite early to visit such a place they decided to go dancing first and we entered a dancing bar. The bar was all in red plush and gold with a more than dimmed light and therefore everybody looked good. I looked around saw people sitting on the red plush sofas or seats and then noticed that on each table there were a telephone. I was surprised. A telephone in the 60th was not a commun object available for everybody and here was one sitting on each table.

We sat down and the telephone started ringing. My boss took it and then handled it over to me. A guy was on the line and invited me to dance. I was so surprised that I looked at the phone as if he would step out of there in a minute. But then I heard the voice saying that he sat opposite my table and when I looked, there was a guy who waved at me. As he was quite handsome and looked clean (hygenically) I accepted and we danced. Of course I was a disappointment for him because I didn't want to give what he wanted he quickly returned me to my table. My boss and Josh had disappeared, but they had left a bottle of champagne on the table for our celebration. As I liked champagne very much I helped myself with pleasure and found the situation more and more exciting. When both came back, a little disappointed about their dancing results, we emptied the bottle and they decided to go now inside the red zone.

The problem was again my little self. Women were not allowed in. So they looked at me hoping I would say "take me home" but I was far too curious and wanted to come with them. After careful consideration they finally decided to hide me on the back seat of the car. The only thing I had to do was kneeling between the seats so that nobody could see me from outside, but I could look through the window.

No sooner said than done. I climbed in the car and they drove direction red zone. It was located in a very old and a little dirty looking area and suddenly we arrived at a wall. Here they told me that I had to hide now. Which I did. Peeping through the window I saw a line of houses with red neon signs which praised all kind of propositions and had funny names. I watched the "red zone" ladies, dressed or more undressed in narrow outfits, high healed and with big decoltées almost until the bellybutton. All hair colors and hair styles were represented and from skinny minnies to oversized elephants everything was available. Sometimes they discussed with a man and then disappeared behind the door of a house. What an awful profession, I thought, accepting all these man to earn money for living. The fats, balds, hairies, very young to very old, they all were represented.

As we drove very slowly so that we could see the most, suddenly a long curly haired blond with a red mini dress knocked at the window. Josh opened it and she put her head inside to offer her services and discuss the price. While I had a wonderful view on two pink mountains I listened to the conversation with great attention. I had shrinked myself to the size of a little mouse. I don't remember the price or anything else of the discussion and anyway they couldn't accept the kind proposition, because I was in the way, but anyway they just wanted to have a look. They were both married.

When we had enough of our sightseeing, we drove to the city center and continued to celebrate our business success. This was the first time I have seen a red zone in my life.

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11 comments:

Irish Church Lady :) said...

Interesting tale Gattina. I think I would have been curious and discouraged at the same time.

I love the comic since we have a weiner dog in this household! LOL

Anonymous said...

Don't you just love that cartoon? I saw it a while ago and as I have a dachshund, downloaded it to save. I show it to people when I want to make them laugh hard!

Anonymous said...

They take prostitution seriously there. Here the women just stand on street corners.
Great cartoon, ha,ha..

Neila said...

What a great story!! That would have been a very interesting thing to see!! And it's a great take on the word celebrate!!

Incidentally, I would be celebrating the fact that your cat didn't knock over that cup of coffee in that top picture. :-)

Lisa Ryan said...

Fun celebration story Gattina! I have visited the red light district in Amsterdam several times when traveling for business. It is always an interesting experience!!
Have a great day.
Lisa

Anonymous said...

Nice memory. I think.... *lol*

Made me remember my own visit to, well, not exactly a red district, but the street of hookers here in Stockholm - which you actually can visit in other errands too.

This was by car too, but it turned out a bit different. The other men that were there on this street started to cue up behind our car, waiting for me to step out of the car so they could continue with me...

I really don't know if I should be flattered or not...?

*giggles*

Anonymous said...

queue up I mean... I'm not awake today, feeling shitty. *sigh*

Melli said...

ROFL! Gattina... you are SO adventuresome! Ohhhhhh the stories I could tell you about MY teenage days.... whoooo... (really about my SISTER -- but I was her partner in crime!) Oh my! This was a GREAT story! ( i forgot all about manic monday today.... i just can't keep all these meme's straight!)

Elaine said...

That was fascinating, Gattina! I got sidetracked by the idea of a job making subtitles for movies - sounds like a lot more fun than mine!

Claire said...

Hey, i think that was a brilliant story, i am laughing about the telephone call at the table and the subsequent dance!
This was a great celebrate theme!
You didn't have to put something about mo's birthday in your manic and think yours is cool!

Unknown said...

What a funny celebration, "Miss little mouse"! =)

My first time in a red light district was during my work for a pizza delivery service while I was a student. The girls had ordered some pizza and it was my tour. LOL

Nein, ich bin nicht im Karnevalstrubel versunken... unser Sohn ist Sonntag getauft worden - somit hab die Hütte voll mit liebenswertem Besuch... =)