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This is rather unusal. I actually have retail SC stories, well sort of.
I'm up here in Maryland to finally hold the estate sale for my mother's belongings. Some of you might be aware from things I've dropped in Off Topic, Mom has Alzheimers and Brother and I put her in Assisted Living last fall. We finally sold the house, have taken what we wanted from the stuff in it, and had a big estate sale to get rid of the rest today.
Of course, such a noble purpose as caring for ones elderly mother can't go without a few Sucky Customers to spoil the mood.
Some of these items are more irritating than sucky, but there were a few genuine trademarked SCs and EWs who darkened our door . . . literally.
The Setting
Picture it . . . Sicily, 1890 . . . OK, it's really a bedroom community in Maryland, and it's not 1890, but you get the idea.
Brother and I called it a yard sale, but we were able to sell very little in the actual yard. There was just too much stuff to actually put in the yard. Because Brother had not wanted me to hold a yard sale earlier when the house was still for sale, most of Mom's stuff was well, stuffed all over the place.
I arrive early Friday afternoon to start getting things organized. Brother, Sister In Law (SIL), and the Kids (S, D, and P) were due later in the afternoon to help set up. When I arrived, I find a pickup with a large trailer backed in the driveway. The back of the trailer is a whisker away from the garage door. I realize immediately it is the roofers (we have to replace the roof to the studs, and install gutters as part of the sale of the house). No roofers are actually on the roof working, which I thought odd since it was still early in the afternoon.
I get inside and start organizing stuff. I text Brother to let him know I've arrived, and the roofers have been at the house. Later, I go into the garage to find some boxes and find a ton of ladders and roofing materials filling up the garage. I realize I've been there a couple of hours and the roofers have not returned.
Uh oh.
With all the roofing stuff in there, we can't get anything out on the driveway for the sale. In particular, we can't get the mower and the other power tools out to sell. They're boxed in by both the stuff, and the trailer.
SIL and the kids arrive shortly thereafter, and she lets Brother know. He calls Realtor who doesn't get the problem, and Contractor who really doesn't get the problem "can't they just do it another weekend." Brother is irritated; technically Contractor is in breech of contract because he started the work too soon.
Uhm. No. First of all, this is the last weekend I can come up before the closing. Secondly, the closing is in TWO WEEKS and we are obligated by the contract to have the house cleaned out. Let me say it again: CLOSING IS IN TWO WEEKS.
Next morning Contractor arrives, and immediately sees our problem once he visualizes all the stuff his workers left in there. He gets the stuff out, but asks to leave some materials that are hard to move behind; we agree since we now have the room we need to move.
The Pitch
I was a little worried we wouldn't get enough traffic. We forgot to put an ad in the local paper. Brother put one in Craigslist Friday night, and we put out signs. To avoid the "drive by" yardsaler, we put out a BIIIG sign reading "More Inside" to let people know the majority of the sale was indoors.
The signs worked; we got lots of traffic and sold stuff to just about everyone who came in the door. Of course aggressive pricing was key; almost everything was dirt cheaply priced, and we dickered down when ever asked. Very few sales were refused because the buyers couldn't agree to a price (that's where the SC's come in, shortly)
Shoplifters
Of course, having the yard sale mostly inside did have its problems. Although we had four adults (me, Brother, SIL, SIL's sister, and also S. and D. as they are older), we still lost stuff to shoplifters including my brand new Leatherman tool, and (of all things) the shower rod out of one of the bathrooms.
A shower rod??? Really??
We may have lost other stuff. Mom has so much, it was hard to keep track of it all.
Crystal Daze and Silver spoons in mouths
One of our customers, who bought a lot of stuff from us, found a box that, when opened, revealed a very nice crystal decanter, in pristine condition. Brother priced it at 5 bucks, though I'm sure it was much more expensive originally. The customer declined to buy it.
A bit later, Sleezy Guy asked about the decanter. I stuck to Brother's price of $5. He offered $3. Since $5 was already a huge steal, I declined the offer. He pouts.
He later offers me $5 for 8 silver teaspoons from a tea service. We had them priced at $20, and I think there's more money in the actual silver. But we did want to sell stuff, so I counter $15. He complains there's no silver weight marks on the teaspoons, which is true. They may only be silver plated. But they are also very old. I decline again, and he leaves buying nothing, with this look that says, "you're crazy for not dickering."
EW.
I'll take that, and that, and that, and that, and that, and . . .
Seriously. This gal was buying practically everything in sight. She wasn't sucky, and we were actually very happy that she was buying so much because we needed stuff to move. It was just hard to keep up with her because she wanted prices on everything we hadn't had time to price, and she wanted to buy some very odd things, like the bathroom rugs, the shower curtain, and mismatched towels. But she also bought some of our bigger furniture items, and a lot of our kitchen stuff.
She ended up taking the mattress and box spring from Mom's bed (we can't legally sell them in Maryland, so we told the buyer of the frame and headboard he could have them, but he didn't want them. She overheard and took them).
She also bought Dad's desk. She had to arrange for a truck and was gone awhile. Meanwhile, another lady buys the file cabinet. When the first gal returns and finds the file cabinet is gone, she gets a bit upset, but is quickly mollified when I apologize that I didn't understand she wanted it as well as the other furniture. The good news was, I didn't charge her for it, so she wasn't out any money in the first place.
Why so expensive?
Did I mention we were pricing everything to move?
Most of the stuff in the house was priced at a dollar or less. Mom had a lot of nice glass and ceramic collectibles that we priced at 50 cents across the board. Some of them were displayed in a shadow box, which we priced at $1.50.
Sucky Lady wants to pay a buck for the shadow box, and I agree. She asks about the glass, I tell her 50 cents per piece. She wants to know if the items in the shadow box are included in the 1 dollar, I tell her no, 50 cents each.
She gets real snotty, looks down her nose and says, "Why is your glass so expensive?"
Oh, no bitch. You did not just talk down to me.
Me: It's not expensive. My brother and I agreed on a uniform price for all glass items, with a few exceptions, to encourage sales. If you want to make me an offer, you can and we can discuss it.
SL grumbles, then asks how much for the shadow box and the items in it. I count them quickly, and give her a price that includes each item at 50 cents. I didn't give her the usual buy in bulk discount we gave some folks (like the lady who bought Dad's entire DVD library).
Dumbass bitch leaves behind about half a dozen items she paid for. No loss!
SIL reminds me not to take it personally and she's right . . . but it was the attitude not the request that bugged me.
Eventually the sale winds down, all items are picked up and we pack it in. We are still with a lot of stuff that needs to be sold, so Brother and I are splitting up the remainder to sell at individual yard sales later in the summer.
I'm exhausted. I'm too tired to be tired. And I have a lot of packing yet to do in order to get on the road tomorrow.
I'm up here in Maryland to finally hold the estate sale for my mother's belongings. Some of you might be aware from things I've dropped in Off Topic, Mom has Alzheimers and Brother and I put her in Assisted Living last fall. We finally sold the house, have taken what we wanted from the stuff in it, and had a big estate sale to get rid of the rest today.
Of course, such a noble purpose as caring for ones elderly mother can't go without a few Sucky Customers to spoil the mood.
Some of these items are more irritating than sucky, but there were a few genuine trademarked SCs and EWs who darkened our door . . . literally.
The Setting
Picture it . . . Sicily, 1890 . . . OK, it's really a bedroom community in Maryland, and it's not 1890, but you get the idea.
Brother and I called it a yard sale, but we were able to sell very little in the actual yard. There was just too much stuff to actually put in the yard. Because Brother had not wanted me to hold a yard sale earlier when the house was still for sale, most of Mom's stuff was well, stuffed all over the place.
I arrive early Friday afternoon to start getting things organized. Brother, Sister In Law (SIL), and the Kids (S, D, and P) were due later in the afternoon to help set up. When I arrived, I find a pickup with a large trailer backed in the driveway. The back of the trailer is a whisker away from the garage door. I realize immediately it is the roofers (we have to replace the roof to the studs, and install gutters as part of the sale of the house). No roofers are actually on the roof working, which I thought odd since it was still early in the afternoon.
I get inside and start organizing stuff. I text Brother to let him know I've arrived, and the roofers have been at the house. Later, I go into the garage to find some boxes and find a ton of ladders and roofing materials filling up the garage. I realize I've been there a couple of hours and the roofers have not returned.
Uh oh.
With all the roofing stuff in there, we can't get anything out on the driveway for the sale. In particular, we can't get the mower and the other power tools out to sell. They're boxed in by both the stuff, and the trailer.
SIL and the kids arrive shortly thereafter, and she lets Brother know. He calls Realtor who doesn't get the problem, and Contractor who really doesn't get the problem "can't they just do it another weekend." Brother is irritated; technically Contractor is in breech of contract because he started the work too soon.
Uhm. No. First of all, this is the last weekend I can come up before the closing. Secondly, the closing is in TWO WEEKS and we are obligated by the contract to have the house cleaned out. Let me say it again: CLOSING IS IN TWO WEEKS.
Next morning Contractor arrives, and immediately sees our problem once he visualizes all the stuff his workers left in there. He gets the stuff out, but asks to leave some materials that are hard to move behind; we agree since we now have the room we need to move.
The Pitch
I was a little worried we wouldn't get enough traffic. We forgot to put an ad in the local paper. Brother put one in Craigslist Friday night, and we put out signs. To avoid the "drive by" yardsaler, we put out a BIIIG sign reading "More Inside" to let people know the majority of the sale was indoors.
The signs worked; we got lots of traffic and sold stuff to just about everyone who came in the door. Of course aggressive pricing was key; almost everything was dirt cheaply priced, and we dickered down when ever asked. Very few sales were refused because the buyers couldn't agree to a price (that's where the SC's come in, shortly)
Shoplifters
Of course, having the yard sale mostly inside did have its problems. Although we had four adults (me, Brother, SIL, SIL's sister, and also S. and D. as they are older), we still lost stuff to shoplifters including my brand new Leatherman tool, and (of all things) the shower rod out of one of the bathrooms.
A shower rod??? Really??
We may have lost other stuff. Mom has so much, it was hard to keep track of it all.
Crystal Daze and Silver spoons in mouths
One of our customers, who bought a lot of stuff from us, found a box that, when opened, revealed a very nice crystal decanter, in pristine condition. Brother priced it at 5 bucks, though I'm sure it was much more expensive originally. The customer declined to buy it.
A bit later, Sleezy Guy asked about the decanter. I stuck to Brother's price of $5. He offered $3. Since $5 was already a huge steal, I declined the offer. He pouts.
He later offers me $5 for 8 silver teaspoons from a tea service. We had them priced at $20, and I think there's more money in the actual silver. But we did want to sell stuff, so I counter $15. He complains there's no silver weight marks on the teaspoons, which is true. They may only be silver plated. But they are also very old. I decline again, and he leaves buying nothing, with this look that says, "you're crazy for not dickering."
EW.
I'll take that, and that, and that, and that, and that, and . . .
Seriously. This gal was buying practically everything in sight. She wasn't sucky, and we were actually very happy that she was buying so much because we needed stuff to move. It was just hard to keep up with her because she wanted prices on everything we hadn't had time to price, and she wanted to buy some very odd things, like the bathroom rugs, the shower curtain, and mismatched towels. But she also bought some of our bigger furniture items, and a lot of our kitchen stuff.
She ended up taking the mattress and box spring from Mom's bed (we can't legally sell them in Maryland, so we told the buyer of the frame and headboard he could have them, but he didn't want them. She overheard and took them).
She also bought Dad's desk. She had to arrange for a truck and was gone awhile. Meanwhile, another lady buys the file cabinet. When the first gal returns and finds the file cabinet is gone, she gets a bit upset, but is quickly mollified when I apologize that I didn't understand she wanted it as well as the other furniture. The good news was, I didn't charge her for it, so she wasn't out any money in the first place.
Why so expensive?
Did I mention we were pricing everything to move?
Most of the stuff in the house was priced at a dollar or less. Mom had a lot of nice glass and ceramic collectibles that we priced at 50 cents across the board. Some of them were displayed in a shadow box, which we priced at $1.50.
Sucky Lady wants to pay a buck for the shadow box, and I agree. She asks about the glass, I tell her 50 cents per piece. She wants to know if the items in the shadow box are included in the 1 dollar, I tell her no, 50 cents each.
She gets real snotty, looks down her nose and says, "Why is your glass so expensive?"
Oh, no bitch. You did not just talk down to me.
Me: It's not expensive. My brother and I agreed on a uniform price for all glass items, with a few exceptions, to encourage sales. If you want to make me an offer, you can and we can discuss it.
SL grumbles, then asks how much for the shadow box and the items in it. I count them quickly, and give her a price that includes each item at 50 cents. I didn't give her the usual buy in bulk discount we gave some folks (like the lady who bought Dad's entire DVD library).
Dumbass bitch leaves behind about half a dozen items she paid for. No loss!
SIL reminds me not to take it personally and she's right . . . but it was the attitude not the request that bugged me.
Eventually the sale winds down, all items are picked up and we pack it in. We are still with a lot of stuff that needs to be sold, so Brother and I are splitting up the remainder to sell at individual yard sales later in the summer.
I'm exhausted. I'm too tired to be tired. And I have a lot of packing yet to do in order to get on the road tomorrow.
Maybe the locals either knew her, or simply felt the *opposite* way from most yard sale shoppers -- most, especially those who are not from close by, might see the items for sale as "just some stuff", and not connect them to a person who is, or was, living. 
Thank goodness *I* have the trinket boxes my grandparents kept their loose change and stuff in 
And I have someone's antique piano, so the balance of the universe is somewhat restored 
Could you at least wait to get back into your car, or be out of earshot of the people holding the sale? It's an estate sale, that's a different thing from a yard sale. Try to have a little respect. Oh wait, forgot the name of the site again 
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