In the height of a recession, a man has to do what a man has to do in order to make a living. (LINK) However, fraud enters into the equation at times and it is left to the courts to decide the fate of Frank Maus.

photo of Traute Soupolos

How should the courts handle this one? Should Frank Maus return the money to Demetrius Soupolos? I think we should allow the blogging community to serve as judge and jury on this one.

h/t WoFat

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22 COMMENTS

  1. Those Germans are such fun loving people, until someone fails to inpregnate the beauty queen.

    I could have told you the punch line in the first paragraph. And there are much less emotional ways to get pregnant than to have sex with the neighbor. Has any of them contacted the neighbor's wife's children's real father?

  2. Maus should definitely return the money and Traute should definitely return Demetrius for a newer model.

  4. Are there no sperm banks in Germany? I think a few withdrawals from the bank would be cheaper than the stud fees for this dud.

    Adding that google says sperm is about 350 to 600 dollars per dose.

    As for how to handle the fraudulent nature of the transactions, a sucker is born every minute.

  5. Opus – Apparently there is some sort of penalty for early withdrawal in Germany.

    Charlene – The Germans seem to be having too much fun getting pregnant.

    Euripides – I think that Maus earned the money — three times a week for six months. If you do the math, Maus is making about $32.00 per hour (26 weeks x 3/$2500) which is the journeyman rate for a skilled worker in Europe. We're presuming that he worked for a full hour each time, less his 10 minute union sanctioned break. So 50 minutes. Anything over that would constitute overtime. This means that Demitrius may still owe him a few hundred Euros. That he turned out to be sterile is a technicality.

    Odie – I think he did enjoy his work.

  6. LL: OK, I think you're making the work out to be more difficult than it was. Sure, if the guy was union, he could claim the entire hour (well, 50 minutes), but I'm figuring that the guy wasn't union because of his "neighbor" status with the husband. So, if we take the average of about 10 minutes per visit, which seems more likely, we only end up with 12 total hours worked. Divided into the $2500 payment, that works out to be $208.33 an hour, which is far too much for an older (34 years!) stud. Personally, I wouldn't pay more than your figure of about $30 to $32 an hour for that kind of skilled labor. And I would never hire union for such a job.

  7. Euripides – To do a good job (not necessarily a 'union' job), it would take me two hours or more… 10 minutes? Come on, the guy's a German – the master race. He should be able to keep the beat strong for a couple of hours each time.

  8. LL: Well, at two hours a pop, that $2500 would hardly make it worth your time. You'd only be getting $17 an hour. My rate would be even less – around $10 an hour. Now I figure a skilled tradesman ought to make more than that and an experienced, skilled tradesman ought to be worth upwards in the $50- $60 range. I'd expect at least $3600 out of the deal.

    We don't know enough about the neighbor, but I still think his rates were too high.

  9. Euripides – From my reading of the case, Maus was paid up front for the entire job — no matter how long it took. It was a sound business decision on his part because it eliminated the whole hourly rate controversy. And because he knew that it would take a VERY long time to accomplish the promised results.

  10. Looks like he "worked" at it, so I'd say he earned his pay… HIS family situation, well, THAT is a different kettle of fish!

  12. WoFat – I don't know if Zorba played, but my bet is on Dueling Banjos from Deliverance…

    Old NFO – I Give Mr. Maus an A for effort. And let's face it, if you were in his shoes would you try any fewer than 72 times (with the honor of the US Navy hanging in the balance)?

  13. Speaking for the Master Race, I have to say, I'd do it for far less. My resume documents that I've done it at least a half dozen times before (well, five times with twins once)…but I only have one good character reference.

  14. Race – I'm with you. I might be willing to cut my rate for the six month plan. I don't want people to think that I'm cheap or easy, though.

  15. i reckon he earned the money. there was no reason for him to think that he wasn't fertile – so no deception in that regard.

    So yep, he should keep the money (and lose the wife).

  16. Makes you wonder if the wife had her eye on the Neighbor for quite some time. Hey Husband… I have an Idea on how we can have kids. Just let me do our Neighbor over and over and over again.

  19. I think he should give the money to Traute since in the end she had to 'suffer' through 72 times with no good outcome.
    What would a 'professional' earn in Germany for providing her services?
    Sounds like a case for Judge Judy.

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