The past three days of been grueling, as we just got through a garage sale. For the first two days it was just me and the munchkin, attending a last-blast batch of ”buy me, please!” items as we clean out in preparation for the arrival of daughter #2. As soul-sucking as it is to sit in the heat awaiting customers, I can’t help but feel that this is what it must feel like to be a car or furniture salesperson – just waiting for the next catch to show up in your pond. What else did I ponder? The stupid things that people say at a garage sale.
Pictured Left: The munchkin spots someone from inside The Rock Father Garage. Yes, we do have some interesting things in there.
The number one most annoying thing you can hear at a garage sale is “Thank You.” No, not spoken by a seller or a paying customer, but by the ones that leave empty-handed. It’s especially off-putting if that’s all they say. What exactly are they thanking you for? Is it for the opportunity to rummage through your junk? Is it for the privilege of stepping foot on your property? Or is it just because they have no idea what to say? Here’s a novel thought for the empty thankers: Say “Have a good day,” “Enjoy your afternoon,” or something to a similar effect. Didn’t like the selection? Well, how about “Sorry, nothing of interest here.” Just don’t say “Thank You.”
Living in a multi-cultural area, I always dig hearing some languages other than English, but sometimes you get something totally incomprehensible, and you’re looked at as if you should understand. I’m pretty sure one guy was Q-Bert in a human disguise, but I couldn’t quite tell. He may have also been drunk.
On Friday, I ran into price-tag switchers (as if I wouldn’t notice in my small driveway), and a lady that was angry that I politely asked her son NOT to open the 30+ year-old wax packs of JAWS 2 trading cards that I had set aside on a special “collectible” table. I figure since he was 12-ish, he should probably know better, and would probably not go into a store and start ripping open baseball cards. In retaliation, she put back a .50 “Batman Head” Halloween bucket.
Some fine quotes:
“Does this work?” – No, I’m trying to sell people broken items.
“Do you accept credit cards?” – You’re kidding, right?
“What is this?” – It’s called a book, you read it.
Here’s a few other choice quotes along with some visual evidence…
“25 cents for the whole box?”
“One Dollar for the whole box?”
“It plays Blu-Rays?”
“Are these books or stickers?”
Lesson learned? Comic Books are very confusing to people.
Goodwill also got some sweet stuff this afternoon.
–James
