Revolving Dinner, Never a Wasted Hour

““Le Patron,” as Horst was known in Alsace, worked hardest of all. A workaholic by any standards, he always looked for ways to exploit his time as efficiently as possible. One of his most bi- zarre ploys was known as the revolving dinner. “Three groups of people would be set up in three separate rooms, with one lead- ing executive at each table,” one witness recalled. “Horst would have drinks with one group. Sit at the table. Then, as planned, he would be called away for an urgent meeting. He would then move on to the next group, eat an appetizer, then be called away. And on to the next group for dessert. At the end of the evening all of those guests would feel they had dined with Horst Dassler.””

“Horst barely needed sleep. Those who worked closely with him routinely received phone calls in the middle of the night. Fully awake, Horst would have just been hit by another idea that he urgently wanted to discuss. The American girlfriend of one em- ployee became so annoyed by the nightly intrusions that she once picked up the phone herself. “Horst, you are interfering with my sex life,” she told him angrily. For the next weeks her hapless partner was asked daily about the state of his intimate affairs.”