Crony 1: Here was a guy that wanted to buy our treadmill for his girlfriend. I made sure to tell him that he needed a truck to haul it. He said he planned to bring his brother who had a truck and it would be no problem hauling it.
At 5:00 pm, Crony 1 arrived in a car (not a truck) with brother and a gal (girlfriend who gets the treadmill) after calling us at least a half dozen times to get the address right. I think Giri skipped a few heartbeats when he saw the two huge burly men with full body tattoos get out of a run-down sedan. Needless to say with all the dire straits Giri had warned me about, I don't mind admitting I had a few nervous thoughts myself and asked my son and his friend to go back up Dad. The boys took one look at the customers and conveniently disappeared into their room. Saving my husband fell to me and I followed him outside where I found him deep in conversation with the visitors as he told them the treadmill would not fit in a car. But the guys opened the boot and showed the deep interior and said they would manage. Very well then, they came down, saw the treadmill, hauled it up, out the house and into the boot with half the treadmill hanging out. Crony 1 took out $50, gave it to us, wished us a safe journey, shook our hands and left.Very anticlimactic with all the buildup our nervous imagination had led us to believe.
Crony 2: The next interaction with the second customer for our snowblower was uneventful. He came, he saw, he paid and he left. Again, no ax murderer.
Crony 3: The next two guys who came for the couch were thrilled to bits when they saw the deal they were getting for $10. They were almost embarrassed to give us the $10 to take away the couch. When Giri threw in the boom box at no cost, we had a couple of happy campers!
Crony 4: Our fans were taken away by an asian lady who came in, was very polite and wanted to ensure that both fans worked and the oscillating function was demonstrated before paying me, taking them away after wishing me a safe journey and that she understood how hard this would be for the family. I got a sympathetic ear from our Craigslist Crony # 4
The last Crony: This last item took 4 days to generate interest and we had almost given up hope when an email popped up from a guy who wanted the VHS player and tapes. He came in full of life, spent a few minutes asking about our move, gave Tarun some advice about not marrying young and coming back to MI for education. Almost like a close friend, he wished us luck, took the box and left.
Sometimes the way our mind works is so influenced by media and the horror stories that make it to the news that we are colored in our expectations of life. I must say that contrary to our initial apprehensions, we had a very good experience using Craigslist and met some interesting characters along and way. Would we do it again! You betcha.........