Bill Gates has been traveling a bit recently, and was apparently doing a bit of touring in Africa. Unfortunately, his request for a Nigerian Visa was initially met with a somewhat rude refusal.
The Nigerians were worried Bill might arrive in their fabulously wealthy and desirable nation and perhaps try to over-stay his welcome, scamming their incredibly generous social welfare programs to support him in his impoverished condition.
Earth to Nigeria: Bill could probably buy your whole country and still have a few billion in change. Okay, seriously: they probably didn’t believe it was *the* Bill Gates, and reasonably asked to see proof of his financial situation. But still…you have to admit, it’s funny.
I have this recurring fantasy of being Bill-Gates rich, putting on my grubbiest clothes, and going in to, say, a Bentley automobile showroom and asking to take a test drive. Then, when they either try to show me the door or smarmily suggest that the automobiles might be out of my price range, handing them my American Express and saying “I’ll take the whole showroom”. I think I might update that fantasy to going to Nigeria, being asked to demonstrate my financial solvency, and handing them my American Express and saying “I’ll take the whole country”.
Maybe they though he was coming to deal with all those “Hello, I am a reputable banker in Nigeria …” emails 😉
As for the Bentley dealership … if they sell them to Paris Hilton I don’t think they care how cheap you look.
Could be- apparently, the “Nigerian scam” actually generates a healthy portion of their GDP 🙂
Regarding Paris Hilton- she may look cheap, but she does so very expensively. Her shoes probably cost more than my annual salary. When I look cheap, it’s not expensive cheap- it’s “this guy bought his clothes at Walmart” cheap: a totally different thing 🙂