Bill Gates memorized employees' license plates to track them (2016)

After showing him the vast quantity of free soft drinks, buildings, and grounds, I asked him, "Do you want to see Bill Gates's car?"

He said yes, so off we went.

BillG (everyone at Microsoft referred to Bill Gates by his email alias) was one of the few people at Microsoft with an assigned parking spot. Plus, everyone knew where his office was, so it was easy to narrow down which parking lot to visit.

I took my friend over. Luckily, BillG had come in to the office that day.

There was nothing unique about his car. So my friend didn't drop his jaw in awe/reverence or anything.

For all he knew, I was pulling a fast one and just showing him an upmarket car saying, "Yep, there it is, BillG's car! Ain't it something?"

Out of curiosity, I wanted to see what was inside BillG's car. So I walked up to the car and stood about two feet away and looked to see what was inside the front of the car.

In one word, it was unremarkable.

Curiosity sated, I started walking away. At no point did I come in physical contact with the car.

Then someone called out, "Excuse me!"

I stopped and turned around.

A security guard had popped out of nowhere.

He approached and questioned me.

I had to explain what I was doing there, show him my employee cardkey, and he proceeded to write down my badge number.

Then I was allowed to leave.

Now my friend believed that really was BillG's car.

I am fine with founders expecting employees to give swear, blood, and tears if they are substantial payoffs at the end.

Not that I have ever heard of such a deal. From what I read, it is usually investor first, founders next, and employees dead last.

If my boss cared, he wouldn't have to memorize my plate in order to recognize my car. I don't need to memorize people's license plates in order to recognize their cars. Orange Subaru Outback is Steve, Blue Volkswagen Bug is Jeff, etc.. Were Bill Gates' employees all driving the same make, model, color cars? Even then, little details like window tint, trim, bumper-stickers can easily differentiate...