Lawn sale loonies

[Caffienated_Caramel]

That goddamn wench! If it was legal I would have chopped her hands off! Was the kid ok?

I like the hose idea! Nothing can make a person run away faster (aside the police being called) is getting their clothes or hair wet.

[depechemodefan]

you get the vultures who start going thru boxes before you can unpack them properly

I remember an used bookstore was having a sale in the parking lot. there were boxes still underneath the tables. A woman started drag the boxes out from underneath and started to look through them and an employee came up to her to tell her not to. Then I forgot what she said or the employee said (maybe on the lines that the manager was letting her do it - I imagine the manager had no spine) and as the employee was walking away she said some rude (but no profanity used) about the employee. Her two teen kids were standing behind her, not moving. I wondered if she didn't want them to leave her sight.

[Ironclad Alibi]

Years ago we had a yard sale that had a lot of stuff from two estates, and from a neighbor who moving into assisted living. My wife saw a woman walk up to the sale, look it over, then walk away after remarking, "This stuff is too nice for me."

And why is it the piles of junk you put out just for the heck of it always sell first? I have also had this happen when I sell model trains at a train show.

[the lawsmeister]

I have no idea why people can't take a hint some stuff is NOT for sale, especially when you cover it up with tarps so I could in no way be mistaken as being something on a table with a price tag,

Best solution we found to this was to go put stickers on them that say "sold"
Deters all but the suckiest of the sucky.

[shenzee]

My cousin's grandmother died of breast cancer, so in her memory she decided to walk in the 3 day breast cancer walk. Well you have to raise something like $1500 to walk, so she had a yard sale and everyone donated things for her to sell. She had signs up everywhere stating that all proceeds would go towards breast cancer research, but you wouldn't believe the amount of people who tried to nickel and dime her to death on items that were as cheap as a quarter. She got so frustrated with one lady who would not stop trying to make a deal, and finally pointed out what the proceeds were for and the lady said she didn't give a shit about her dead grandmother, and she wasn't about to spend $2 on a used pair of shoes. Needless to say, she barely got off the property before someone put a boot up her hind end!

[protege]

And why is it the piles of junk you put out just for the heck of it always sell first? I have also had this happen when I sell model trains at a train show.

Never figured out that either. When we were trying to unload my great-grandmother's crap, all of the junk sold first. The nicer stuff took ages to sell, mainly because it was "too expensive." Some of that, including my great-grandfather's stamp collection...found its way into my hands. By stamp collection, we're talking hundreds of blocks, a few full sheets, first-day-covers, mint singles, etc. that he'd picked up for nothing when he worked at the post office. I'm sure I could have made a mint on selling that collection...but I chose to keep it.

But, I'm also one of those people who will buy "junk" at the model train or car show, or even antique stores. I've done it enough, that I know what truly is shit, and what can be restored. For example, several years back, I bought a box of 1960s model car kits. All were in horrible shape. Parts were falling off, paint was peeling etc. Nearly all of them hadn't been reissued since then, and are somewhat rare now. Out of the 20 or so cars I'd bought...only 2 (a '64 Imperial and a '57 Chrysler) were deemed worthless. They simply had too many parts missing, and would have cost too much to replace. Sure, I could have purchased resin bumpers, hoods, and other parts...but they're expensive. I could have bought a newer '64 for less than the price of the replacement parts

[El Pollo Guerrera]

Garage sales...

Our print shop does a garage sale flyer every weekend when the snow clears off. People bring in their information and we print up a sheet with all the sales that they tell us about and a local map with how to find it. It brings in a lot of people who would normally just walk by...

But we do get a few SC's because of it.

"There was a HUGE sale at (fill in the blank) and your paper MISSED IT!!!"
Yes. Because they didn't bring us the information. We are not investigative reporters, hunting out the sales for you. We just list what people bring us.

"YOU had a sale listed at (fill in the blank) and it was CLOSED when we got there!"
Yes. Because on the listing they put that the sale would end at x 0'clock, and you picked up you sheet two hours after it ended. Actually, two hours after MOST of the sales ended. - OR - They put a warning on the listing that the sale would not happen if it rained. It rained. A lot.

The worst is when we run out and have to print up more. It's easy to print but there's usually 2 or 3 angry women with their arms crossed giving me the stink-eye because they have to wait 30 seconds to get to their weekly fix of bargain shopping.

[Pagan]

I'd have called the cops immediately.

I'm with the others. I would have been on the phone with the police moments later and had her ass thrown in jail. What was she thinking? Or not thinking?

I would have just thrown her out.

I really don't know what the cops would have done except tell her not to be an idiot. Which is all she was....just an incredibly dense, stupid, idiot.

She had signs up everywhere stating that all proceeds would go towards breast cancer research, but you wouldn't believe the amount of people who tried to nickel and dime her to death on items that were as cheap as a quarter. She got so frustrated with one lady who would not stop trying to make a deal, and finally pointed out what the proceeds were for and the lady said she didn't give a shit about her dead grandmother, and she wasn't about to spend $2 on a used pair of shoes. Needless to say, she barely got off the property before someone put a boot up her hind end!

People do that on "Clean House", too. They know what this money is going for, yet they still try to talk them down to nothing.

[Stormraven]

What would the police have done? Off the top of my head, Assault on a minor child (picking the child up without parental consent), Illegal Entering, Theft of property - I'm sure they could come up with more.

Of course, I'm not a police officer or a lawyer, but I believe those are all viable charges, given the situation.

[Juggler]

I love hagglers at garage sales.

I do the garage sales. The key to success is speed. Being there first with exact change. Let the other guy haggle and fiddle with change. I'll be first at the next sale or two.

AS to the early bird issue. Unless the ad specifies no early birds you have to show up early. Otherwise, someone else will beat you to the good stuff.

[AccountingDrone]

We are planning on cleaning out the misc crap in our barn [you know, the stuff that has stayed in the boxes for the past 20 years we have lived here...] but not at the farm, there is no parking unless you want to try and find our small hidden dirt driveway that leads to our pasture ... and we live on the curve in a narrow road where people drive about 60 miles per hour on a little country road [I wish I was joking, but I'm not =(]

There is a great sunday flea market in the next town over that our roomie goes to weekly, so we are going to have her go and set up a booth for as many sundays as it takes for her to sell or barter everything away. Win-Win situation =) it gets gone, and she gets to hang out at the flea market

[Zoom]

What would the police have done? Off the top of my head, Assault on a minor child (picking the child up without parental consent), Illegal Entering, Theft of property - I'm sure they could come up with more.

I used to live in a neighborhood whose garage sales were so packed full that they extended out into the yard, and frequently into the house and/or basement.

It was a very common thing for people in that area to expect everything they saw to be on sale unless it had a "NOT FOR SALE" tag, and it was also because of these expectations that residences kept their back doors securely locked as a means of notifying people the garage sale was only in the garage.

It would be very easy for the "The door was open" defense to be used. Also, it isn't theft if you think it is merchandise and are trying to pay for it... Mishandling the baby, however, is a definite no-no and na-na.