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I Hate To See Waste

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SIRandyraven | 17:17 Sat 08th Oct 2016 | ChatterBank
27 Answers
Well now returned to uk after living in a furnished apartment in Switzerland.
The landlord had sold the place (3 bedroom apartment for 1.2 million GBP) and a very nice retired couple. They own two other apartments and a large house where they live in on lake. So they are not short of money. Good luck to them as retired doctors.
Anyway we were told that all the rather expensive furniture and fittings we had taken care of for 3 years was going to charity , except for 2 designer glass desk and a table that they paid £8,000 for 5 years prior and wanted to keep ...Gulp as I found out what they were worth.
So we packed up all our boxes (personal stuff - 56 boxes of it lol) and it was sent back to uk.
5 days later the charity man turned up and selected just 8 items ....we were surprised and he said the charity had enough stuff to sell already blah blah .
We were now in a hotel for 4 nights to allow for apartment deep clean and place had to be empty. So agent turns up next day with a open back truck and I watched two Eastern European men smash everything left with hammers and feet.
Such a huge huge waste ...it was enough to make you want to cry.
Duvet sets still in shrink wrap that we never used ...
Towels never used....
We bought own duvet , sheets , towels from uk.
Fitted units they paid £8,000 to have fitted in 2014, ripped from walls and smashed up with a hammer.
Lamps that were still inboxes that we never used (box had price of CHF 160 on it £130 ish)...flattened via feet and dumped ...4 of those ...and so it went on ..
Sofa leather 4 years old .designer of course ..onto truck to be dumped .
The waste was criminal.
But hey ho not my problem ...
Too late for us to take anything , because all our stuff had been sent to uk already and we were living from cases in hotel for 4 nights.
Typical Swiss ....
Even the Eastern European men said they did not any of it ...but I suspect they kept some stuff. But I did watch them smash up oak units , tables , beds etc with a large sledge hammer
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Some people have more money than sense. How disgusting!
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Best one was agent ...week prior ...
You must have the five duvet in shrink wrap and boxes (farther ones) dry cleaned. But they are new and we have never used them, I told her.
Nope that is the rule she says. So I ignored her ...and asked if they were going to charity. She said yes. Week later they were chucked away.
Typical Swiss and rules are rules attitude to life.
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I have witnessed worse waste ....
Someone I worked with wife was a PA for Russian billionaire with an apartment in Zurich for ....tax reasons.
Anyway he flew her from Zurich to Moscow a couple of month ago , in his private jet (he has two as you would if you were worth £5 billion)....so she could fetch his wife some face cream only available in Zurich :-)
Then a few weeks later agin to Moscow with cherrys because Zug cheery were in season. She often makes trips with life's essentials from Zurich to Moscow .
A few weeks ago his son come through Swiss customs with £30,000 worth of caviar for his dad who was in Zurich at time. Anyway he got stopped and had it all confiscated by Swiss customs ....so funny .
But his son was underage and thus not fined.
He was demanding that she called his lawyer to demand that they gave him his fish eggs back. Lawyer said I can call them, but they will then know they are for you and still keep them and fine you. Ha ha
Supermarkets don't throw it away, Belladonner. It doesn't even reach the supermarkets.
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@nelladoner - I agree , but still not nice to witness such waste. Escpically as we were aware furniture and fittings were high quality and we took care of them for three years, like they were own own. In fact night prior I inbesyed a good 30 minutes waxing the oak cabinets knowing they were going to charity ....only to see them smashed up two days later with a very large club hammer and feet.
EU policy Sirandy? If it is worth keeping smash it.
I'm not going to get started on all the waste and the Swiss weirdness.

Are you back here with work? I have never been to Switzerland but a friend's daughter has a 2nd home over there. My friend loves the place.

As you say what a waste, I am sure someone could have made use of the things.
I'm with you on this SIRandy, waste of any description saddens me greatly.
Supermarkets have started selling wonky fruit and veg.
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Hi wolf63 - Yes I was in Switzerland for 3 years and a few months via work.
We returned to uk once every three months for a week.
Now back to our house in Whitchurch.
We were living just south of Zurich and had a fantastic time.
But the Swiss do have some traditional views on things. Funny in some ways , but can be annoying.
Also this is done in March and everyone cleans this in March.
Everyone moves at end of March , June or September ..../
A lot of things are done this way , because they have always been done this way.
Women have a less status when married than they do in uk and expected to be home makers.
Supermarkets are now donating food to charities. We are starting to benefit from this,and are most grateful for it. Waste is avoidable when those in need are remembered.
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Do calm down Belladona - I was just commenting on I feel it was terrible waste due to the circumstances . Not making a statement on what I think people should do with there possessions. Just an observation that I was reporting on Chatterbank.
Thanks for you penny worth however dear lol
I think also the point you were making was, had you been at home you'd have had more chance to find homes for what sounds like lovely stuff that many would be happy to make use of.

You must have felt very frustrated.
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It seems the Swiss charity's are cash rich.
Not unexpected considering I was living in a tax haven.
The place was packed with very very rich people. One of the neighbours went out and bought £300k worth of cars last month. One for himself , her and a fun car. Aston Martin , Porsche 911 racing thing and a Bentley 4 x 4 SUV thingy.
He said he needed to do a refresh of cars :-)
Probably all lease hire and paid for by his company.
I did get to go for a ride in the Aston Martin. Nice , but low to get into.

My daughter lived in both Prague and Hamburg for a time and they had a system whereby they collected larger items every few weeks from a local designated spot - you could go early and drop off your unwanted items and anyone was free to help themselves.

What remained was taken by the truck when it came.
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"There are much much worse examples of wastefulness to get worked up about than a few 'designer' items ending up on a Tip."

I'd be interested to know what those examples are.

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