So, my Aunt T gave us some furniture for our basement so I Craigslisted our old furniture a few days ago. Our old, pinkish/peach furniture with a floral design. Bleh. I never did like it, but it was furniture and as an 18-year-old newlywed fixing to start college I wasn't picky.
I received a call about it today. It's been a fun journey I wanted to share.
My first conversation with these people went as follows:
"What's the lowest amount you'll take for your furniture?" asked the unfamiliar voice. Though I did have furniture listed on cl I was still confused, because it was the first thing out of her mouth. No greeting of any sorts.
"Huh?" I asked.
"You're the people that have furniture for sale in Cape ain't ya?" The lady clarified.
"Oh, yes. Well, would you like to make an offer on it?" I responded. Rule #1 of negotiating: Never give the first number. This has worked like a charm for my husband. Every year for his raises, when we car shop, any sort of buying the requires negotiating he's your man.
She made an offer that was like $20 under our already ridiculously low asking price and I accepted, because honestly I probably would have given it away.
Upon telling her that I accepted the offer she says, "Okay, you're in Advance aren't you?" What? She herself just asked if we were the people in Cape.
After a brief pause I replied, "Yes."
"Alright, we'll be there in about an hour." She tells me at approximately 4:45pm.
"Oh, well I should probably give you directions." I told her, officially amazed at her... manner. Then I gave her directions that I'm certain she did not write down and got off the phone with her.
When 8:00pm rolled around I was pretty sure they weren't coming. But, that's when she called back to ask - again - if I was 'the people' who had furniture for sale. I went through almost the exact conversation with her as before. Then she asks, "Is it alright if I pay you in change?"
I know it's terrible, but I had to surpress a light chuckle and then hesitantly told her 'uh-huh.'
At 8:30pm she calls and needs directions - for the 3rd time. Then again at 8:45, once more, to get directions. I was getting flustered at that point.
They finally arrived at 9:05pm. It was two ladies, both fairly small women. Both dressed in baggy clothes that looked too big and real old. Both wearing flip-flops. Both reeked with a smoke / dirt odor. The hubs greets them at the door. They didn't respond in any way and just walk into the house. They didn't even say 'hi' back to us. After an awkward silence I announce the furniture is downstairs. They follow and still don't say anything. A small boy probably 3 or 4 years old followed behind them. His head was completely shaved, he wore a pair of red shorts that kept falling off of him and a red shirt that swallowed him. He wasn't wearing any shoes and his feet and hands and face were smeared with filth.
They hand me half of the money in cash and half in rolled change - thank the Lord it was rolled. I almost gave it back to them and told them to go buy the kid some clothes and shoes. But, I didn't because 1.) It probably would have been insulting and 2.) They wouldn't have done it anyway.
The hubs and I along with two smaller ladies hauled out the bulky, heavy hide-a-bed couch and loveseat to a tiny truck. We joked later about them being on steroids or something. The hubs and I could barely pull and push that furniture around just to re-situate it downstairs. These two picked it up on their own - at first - like it wasn't that heavy. So, of course, the loveseat wasn't a big deal at all. Very strange.
Nonetheless, my old furniture is gone and I even got a story out of it ;)'
No comments:
Post a Comment