During his time as Vice President in Canada, Florian Festge realised that it would actually be helpful to speak Spanish too – as he frequently had to make business visits to Spanish-speaking countries such as Chile and Peru, for example. Although he spoke quite good “Portuñol” – a mixture of Portuguese and Spanish – he had the ambition to learn Spanish after work.
With his “amateurish” knowledge of Spanish, he then went on a business trip to Chile one day. He was accompanied by the Haver representative there. While the two of them waited for the customer in a meeting room, they carefully studied an organisation chart with pictures hanging there – which also happened to show the people they were talking to. One of them was very corpulent in the photo. When he faced Florian Festge a few minutes later, he looked totally changed and slim. With the good intention of starting the conversation with a compliment, Florian Festge told his counterpart that he looked “finito”. The room became absolutely silent. Everyone waited for the reaction of his counterpart. He just frowned. Florian Festge couldn’t explain the strange mood until the Haver representative whispered in his ear “You just called the customer gay”. The would-be linguist turned completely red and apologised profusely. He pointed to the picture and pointed out his inadequate language skills. The customer laughed and quickly forgave him. The negotiations with the customer then proved to be harmonious and successful. The screening machine was sold!
