Friday, July 10, 2009

One down, one to go

Day One of Operation Garage Sale is under our belts, and it was a good day. We did indeed have a couple of people show up at 7:30--grrrr--and they sat in the driveway for about 15 minutes before we were ready to head out. A lot of people don't start their sales until 9 AM, so give us a break, people! Turns out that they were highly motivated to buy the washer and dryer we were selling, so that was our first sale. They were elderly people whose daughter and her four sons were living with them, and they were working on getting their daughter set up in her own apartment. Very nice people, and I hope our reasonably-priced used washer and dryer will help with that!

We sold enough things that we were able to get much of the stuff off of the floors and onto the tables, so it was a pretty good day for a weekday. Late in the day, we sold our old kitchen table and chairs, so that was another big item we got rid of, and with my sister buying the bunk beds, we've made a decent chunk o' change so far. I think there's enough good stuff for people tomorrow, and I anticipate a little more action on a Saturday. It was fairly steady today, and there was enough downtime in the afternoon that I would have been able to do Facebook updates or tweet, but it was a little too much hassle to take my laptop and power supply out there. I read my book instead and made good progress on that.

Everyone was really nice, especially the stoner-type guy who bought a mouse (not the kind that Sheeba has been catching lately) and talked about transferring his vinyl to his computer. I've been thinking about that lately--you can get turntables with USB connections, and I've got two boxes of albums in the basement--so I picked his brain a little on that subject. (Note to self: belt drive, not servo motor.) I don't know if he was really a stoner, but he was sort of like that...very genial and talkative and just a really nice guy. The only person that was a little bit nasty was a lady in the morning. She was looking at a box of Disney videos--tapes, not DVDs--and we had $2 on them. I still think that $2 for a Disney video isn't too bad, because a lot of people still have VHS players, and Disney videos aren't cheap...but we marked them down to $1. Anyhoo, she held one up and this is how it went:

Mean Lady: [in an incredulous voice] Two dollars for this?

Ken: It's a Disney video.

Mean Lady: That's not a video. It's a VHS.

Dumbass.

11 comments:

  1. Looks like we will need to earmark some of our revenue (about $700 so far) for a record player for you and some wood for a train table for me :o)

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  2. Sounds like a good day of selling. Ha ha people show up around at 6:30 for yard sales. By 9 a lot of stuff is long gone. Helen

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  3. OK, no matter what else you wrote, the last four lines win a prize. Thank you!

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  4. whoa, sounds like that one shopper had her granny panties ridin' high or something.

    had a great time in your state! my gurl took us to a nature preserve which had a big sign o'rules, among them was no loitering. i bet the garage sale lady suggested that one. as mr. mischief said, "how do you not loiter in a park????"

    went to a great brewery- three floyds and cant wait to go back!

    xxalainaxx

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  5. Sounds like you had a pretty successful day!! Hope tomorrow is even better for you!!! Don't sell those Disney Videos ANY cheaper... collectors will still pay for them.

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  6. The mean lady is exactly the reason I'm not doing the garage sale. I don't do well in the AM so if anyone were to cop an attitude with me that early... bitch it's on. Me and granny would be rolling around the front yard. haha Good luck today. Hope it doesn't rain too much for you.
    Love,
    Jamie

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  7. VHS as in Vacuously Human S**t

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  8. Hi Beth,
    Your story about the "mean lady" really bugs me. "It's not a video, it's a VHS." Really?!? I hope you told that two-bit Cruella Deville to take a hike.
    Best,
    Marty

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  9. Did the early arrival cause any 'Anarchy in the Junction'? I am sure that if they had done pre scouting or even happened upon the sale, seeing what they wanted made it worth it for them.

    Whenever I am shopping, especially sales, I've tried to only use what the item means to me as how I behave towards it. For instance, whenever I see a big sale on laptops, I imagine myself getting to the store FIRST THING. I want to beat the manager there!

    But folks like the Mean Lady get my goat. What do they want, you should GIVE them the video?? Even Mike Singletary would be apoletic about that. We CAN'T give people the VHS!! We are not a charity!!

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  10. Bless you girl, Sounds like you earned anything you got.It was nice to have family stop by also.

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  11. it is very interesting to me to see what others like while others see it as junk. Thank God we're all so different. Totally cool that you had a mini family reunion at the sale. XOXO

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I'm funny how, I mean funny like I'm a clown, I amuse you?