[ilbegone]

I had one garage sale, and that's it. In the future I'll give it away to people who need it or cart it to the dump, it's that simple in my mind.

I needed to move about ten years ago and had an accumulation which simply needed to go.

So, I advertised a yard sale to begin on a Saturday at 9:00 am. No early birds.

I noticed people driving up to the gate and peering up the long drive before 6:00 am on the appointed day. They began milling around 8:00 am. Still getting stuff out and arranging it at 8:59, I walked down to the gate and opened it, and was rapidly propelled by a human tide of blue hairs back up the drive. I remember experiencing fear that I would be trampled.

Some followed me into the garage and asked how much I wanted for tools I was keeping, digging into boxes and pulling stuff out, and generally being obnoxious in their hunt for a bargain. I loudly ran them them out and closed the door when one of them picked up the hand crafted wooden box with heirloom antique silverware which was to go to my daughter. Two or three left in an offended huff.

Outside, I fielded presumptuous questions such as inquiring what sort of furniture I had in the house to sell (none), and discovered that if an item in the box with the original plastic wrap on it was purchased from the store for thirty dollars, three dollars was too high a price to expect. One gentleman offered me a low ball individual price on a stack of cross arms, but I told him he would have to take them all at that price - no taking the better ones and sticking me with a trip to the dump with the rest. The gas would have cost more than I was getting.

It was a long, long day. And I thoroughly hated each and every one of those shoppers who came to my house that day by end of the miserable ordeal.

And I either gave away or tossed what was left in the garage which I had originally wanted to sell.

Never again.