Same stuff available verywhere in Austria.
Other variations are the romanian 1 mm2 cord I told about earlier. "Real" extension cords are Schuko, sometimes screwed-on plug and receptacle, not molded or (worst case) just snapped together, 1.0 or 1.5 mm2 cord, correctly labelled. The ones for heavy-duty site use also have tough rubber sheathing instead of PVC. With screwed cord caps it's good to check the terminal screws of new cords though. I've encountered some that weren't tight.
When I was in America I've seen various ways to abuse such extension cords. One way is to convert it to a 6 outlet one. Take 2 of these, cut the cord somewhere in the middle, throw away one of the pieces with a plug, take the three remaining pieces, twist the wires together and warp the result with lotsa black electrical tape (REAL expert would take silver ducktape!) and voila!
Finally staple everything to the next wall.
Seen in at least one kitchen, a teacher's office at school,...
Other way I've seen: You know these (I think 6-way) adaptors that fit a duplex receptacle? Take 2 $1 extension cords, plug the tap into these 2 (ground gets lost somewhere on the way), resulting in 10 outlets. Then hook up a grounded 5-outlet extension strip to the tap. 14 outlets instead of 2 (the only ones in a 9x9 ft room). I can post a pic of that mess.
