>>>(owner's mistress, in one case :)...
>>
>>Tell me more... ;)
>
>The more interesting case was the hotel we lost... because we stayed away from the manager's cute secretary. Considering that we saw some close relationship, and that he was the patriarchal type who'd generally not like guys like us coming too close to her, we thought we were just being cautious.
>
>Then it turned out that she was his wife, and actually in charge of vetting or vetoing the purchase, and she felt left out of the loop. Which we heard too late. So we didn't get the gig. At least we had two nice trips to a resort, our gas, their accommodation and food :).

ROFL.
Unfortunately i don't have 'war stories ' like those as i have been working for the gov. since my 23rd birthday.
Bureaucratic lunacy otoh...