Germans in no sense of humour shocker

[karohemd]

Earlier this year, the maypole in our hometown was stolen by rivals from a neigbouring town but, as it is custom, returned on time for its erection in exchange for an appropriate ransom (in liquid form), obviously.

Now, that should have been that but Rosenthal, the company at whose warehouse the maypole had been stored, decided to try and press charges (I assume for trespassing, as no damage was caused).
Fortunately, our mayor intervened and negotiated a truce so the charges were dropped.

Article for those of you who read German

Comments

[chrisvenus]

That would have been cool if the mayor negotiated a truce inolving elements in liquid form. :) I assume this was not the case though? On the surface it could be an escalation of the usual joking customs. Of course I'm assuming from the context that it wasn't?

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

Well, there were celebrations involving beer and hampers of food afterwards, so in a way, yes. :o)

Yes, it was an escalation. If the maypole had been stored in, say, a farmer's barn, everyone involved would have laughed about it, I'm sure.

[madmoses.livejournal.com]

Idiots, all of them.

(hah, that felt good)

[lsur.livejournal.com]

It reminds me of a story a German girl told me years ago. She and a friend got drunk one night and, for fun, threw some Xmas-type baubles onto the maypole in their small Bavarian town. It ended with them being chsed by locals and sitting, besieged, in their car until the police came to rescue them.

It's a serious business....