I Pity The Poor Other People Who Had Garage Sales Today

[Ayatollahgondola]

Sunday we had a garage sale at home, and we placed an ad on craigs list to dra some interest. The craigslist ad drew only a few people, and they were the hard core hunters looking for specific items, and they came early and left quickly. But I commandeered a familiar tool for the day, as payback for the many gallons of fuel I've spent on over the years, and it worked marvelously:



I'll bet we had a hundred people come by, and 90% did so due to that. several claimed it was misleading because the sign was bigger than the sale. I just told them they should have come earlier when there was more stuff

Without the sign, I don't know how other people do it. I think the craigslist ad only brought in 5 or 6 people. Poor bastards....

[Cruisingfool]

Awesome! As time rolls on, US Citizens will be using any method they can think of, to make a few bucks.

[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.

[Ayatollahgondola]

Originally Posted by ilbegone

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.

After two or so decades of dealing with kwikkee-mart owners from India, it's a relief to negotiate with garage sale low-ballers. Hashibabs are the most lowballing, persistent, repetitious, and unrewarding customers an American native business owner can have.

[Jeanfromfillmore]

Yes, yard sales can be an ordeal, but once you've become a pro at it and know the ins and outs they can be enjoyable and rewarding. It's the learning process that hard to take, and most people just don't want to deal with the slugs that come by.

[MowMyOwn]

In my area it's illegal to post signs on poles and other street signs, only your own property... but that property can be your car like AG did (well, not necessarily that big). I've seen police just go around and take down peoples' garage sale signs. Oh, and you have to have a permit prior to the sale date.

Years ago I used to go to lots of garage sales looking for specific things and got lucky many times... i.e. one pair of old Levi's - .50 cents, I turned around and sold them for $475.00. Good times

[DerailAmnesty.com]

Originally Posted by Ayatollahgondola

After two or so decades of dealing with kwikkee-mart owners from India, it's a relief to negotiate with garage sale low-ballers. Hashibabs are the most lowballing, persistent, repetitious, and unrewarding customers an American native business owner can have.

That wasn't very PC. OK, if we're going to be bitching about the annoying conduct of certain ethnicities, let's move on to dealing with Arabs while practicing Law.

Firstly, I've never endured a hard word from an Arab. In fact, they've always been very respectful and polite to me. Many, many moons ago, when I was dating a middle eastern girl, her parents were nothing but friendly to me. Further, in my experience, most of them actively seek out the services of Jewish attorneys when they need representation.

What drives me around the bend when having to deal with them is that, the tradition/culture of bargaining is so ingrained into their way of life, that they treat almost everything as negotiable and assume you're not telling them the entire truth, but instead are maneuvering for bargaining power.

I have a very specific memory of a middle-aged Afghani woman who was accused of having stolen money out of her employer's house. When I asked her if she had any priors, she lied (For what possible reason? Am I not going to find out?) She said two, it was a total of seven. The chief evidence against her was a confession she gave, and the explanation she gave me for having said those things was simply preposterous. Long story short, she got offered 7 months jail by the DA which, given her record, was an absolute gift. I advised her to take it. She asked me how much it would cost to go to trial. I quoted her my firm's price but told her not to spend the money b/c I knew we'd lose and a judge would give her at least 16 months in prison, maybe two years. She obviously thought I was holding out for more money, and asked, If I pay you (two thousand more than the price I quoted her), you will take my case for trial? I advised her that I wasn't trying to run up the price on her, but that my genuine evaluation of her situation was that she'd be convicted, regardless of what arguments an attorney made. She nodded as though she understood, and promptly offered me an additional three thousand, asking if this would be enough.

This stupidity went on for almost 20 minutes.

Move ahead in time to this week. A nice woman for whom I had worked out a plea bargain on a shoplifting case in Bakersfield, several months ago, calls me frantically. It was over 20 calls in one evening. When I respond, she tells me she must appear in court the very next day to show the judge she completed her community service. I told her she simply needed to go with the documentation and that there'd be no problem. She then told me she hadn't done any of it. She gave me the (cheese log caliber) excuse for not having done what she'd been ordered to do, and asked me what she thought the judge would do. I advised her that there was about a 50% chance she'd be taken into custody on the spot, and then given a token sentence of about 30 to 60 days in jail (of which she'd serve less than half). Unsatisfied with this answer, she asked me almost the exact same question 5 more times, hoping for a different response. When she didn't get it, she asked what the fee would be to appear with her in Bakersfield the next day. I told her she'd be throwing her money away b/c, given the limited nature of the situation, she'd have just as much chance of being thrown in the hoosegow w/ a lawyer as she was without. The ability to argue, make distinctions, and persuade were of no value in this situation. She did none of the community service and the judge could do whatever struck his fancy.

For over half an hour, she would not accept this response, and kept offering me increases in fee. She literally didn't believe what I was telling her and assumed I was posturing for a larger retainer.

It's a cultural thing and God, does it waste time when your trying to pay someone the courtesy of candor.

[Ayatollahgondola]

Originally Posted by DerailAmnesty.com

What drives me around the bend when having to deal with them is that, the tradition/culture of bargaining is so ingrained into their way of life, that they treat almost everything as negotiable and assume you're not telling them the entire truth, but instead are maneuvering for bargaining power.


It's a cultural thing and God, does it waste time when your trying to pay someone the courtesy of candor.

The culture of bargaining is amplified ten fold when the practitioner is actually a merchant by trade.

I could tell stories until midnight tomorrow, and still have new ones for next week. I can remember losing my temper over a trio of hashibab's who tagged teamed my one after the other. One would try, then the other, then the other, then two, and then all three, and then one, and then the other......until I told them to leave. But noooooo they didn't leave very long. A few minutes, and then came one, and then the other.....And upon the third, I actually left my chair, got right up in his face, and screamed...GET OUUUUUUUUTTTTT!!!!
God.....it's too late in the evening to dredge up this blood pressure elevating stuff

[ilbegone]

Originally Posted by Ayatollahgondola

The culture of bargaining is amplified ten fold when the practitioner is actually a merchant by trade.

I could tell stories until midnight tomorrow, and still have new ones for next week. I can remember losing my temper over a trio of hashibab's who tagged teamed my one after the other. One would try, then the other, then the other, then two, and then all three, and then one, and then the other......until I told them to leave. But noooooo they didn't leave very long. A few minutes, and then came one, and then the other.....And upon the third, I actually left my chair, got right up in his face, and screamed...GET OUUUUUUUUTTTTT!!!!
God.....it's too late in the evening to dredge up this blood pressure elevating stuff

Just reading the story you told about the tire shop owner and the new landlord from India pissed me off. The man would have been out of my face and out of the shop the second time I asked him to leave, airborne if necessary. The lack of respect and the attempted bullying doesn't fly with me.