Not really a horror story, but a lesson. In 1998, worked in USA for startup, got stock options. Head a healthily sceptical attitude, only counted on salary whic

Not really a horror story, but a lesson. In 1998, worked in USA for startup, got stock options. Head a healthily sceptical attitude, only counted on salary which is real money. Nevertheless, I purchased the stock options, at $0.05 each thus spending $100, thinking "Be daft not to. Not convinced these'll be worth spectacular money but don't think I can lose". Then along came the telecomm and dot com busts. So lost whole $100 as the company was wound up. Felt possibly worth it for the schdenfrude of watching somewhat unkind / aggressive senior managers / investors losing big sums ;)