I can handle the jealousy out in the general public when I drive my Viper. I can handle the fact that most of my neighbors hate me because I own one. But I will never, EVER let anyone at work know what kind of car I own ever again. It has caused way too many problems.
I am not a bragger. I am a pretty humble guy. In fact I'm about the nicest guy you'd ever want to meet. But, I remember when I first got a Viper I told a few of the guys at work. About 6 months later this lady starting working in the same place as me who had just left a management job at Chrysler. She was very pleasant to me. Said hi to me everyday. Then one day she just turned kind of like a nasty *****. I asked someone what was with her and they said she found out you own a Viper. She said she worked for years at Chrysler in a lot higher position than I had and couldn't afford one, so how does this guy rate.
Then I moved to another building with the same company and only told this one guy who was also really into cars. Word got around that I owned one. No problems really with that, but I quit and started working for another company. I did not want anyone to know I owned a Viper. But, one of the guys I used to work with also started working for this same company. He asked me in front of a bunch of co-workers if I still owned the Viper. I could see by the look on a lot of people's faces they were pretty disgusted. Like how does this guy rate. So as a result some of those people started saying negative things about me. It hurt me on the job.
Then 2 years ago I was one of the final candidates for a job I was interviewing for. A guy who wasn't really part of the interview was driving me from one building to another for the final interview. We were making small talk, and he mentioned he drag raced. I said I did too. He asked what kind of car I drove. I reluctantly told him it was a Viper. He was very cool about it. But, when he droped me off at the final interview place he mentioned that I own a Viper to the guy who would be my bosses boss. I could tell by the look on his face that he was the type who didn't want someone below him having nicer things than him. Well, I think that blew the interview right there as I was the front runner for the job and they ended up not hiring me.
Well, whenever I start my next job I will NEVER let anyone at work know what kind of car I drive on the outside or anything else about my personal life. Most people are just too jealous. It *****, but that's the way life is.