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Show Ego takes beating at garage sale If you ever want to study human nature, throw a garage sale. Sig-mund Sig-mund Freud could have written volumes on ids and egos displayed at garage sales. There is a strange phenomenon that takes place that any garage sale giver had better beware of, or their actual life may be in danger. It is called the first-to-see-the-bargain-gets-it-' syndrome. It is unwise and unsafe to offer an item to an interested bystander if the person per-son in the corner of the garage had his eye on it first. I found this out the hard way as I was bargaining with one woman over the price of a rec liner when another woman appeared ap-peared out of the shadows with a look of vengeance in her eyes. r I L 1JANIS STUART Columnist My first thought was that someone some-one had escaped protective custody. However, it turned out that once the shadow woman had made her claim on the chair, she once again returned re-turned to "normal person," rational and really quite pleasant to talk to. I also discovered buried hostilities in myself of which I was unaware. One executive office chair L had been set on display. It was a soothing burgundy color with solid oak frame and well built construction. construc-tion. Obviously, it was one of the prize items for sale. A bargain hunter must have been under the impression that the more insulting she was about the chair, the lower the price would be. My reaction was interesting. I had flashes in my mind of holding some sort of blunt weapon in my hand as I chased her from the premises yelling, "I'll show you rickety and off-centered!" off-centered!" Before the male population thinks I am going to let them off easily, I will describe what happens when the male bargain hunter gets going. For some unknown reason, the male garage sale addict seems to think that if he calls on the telephone early enough, he will get the best deals. Men, by the way, prefer to be called antique hunters as opposed to garage sale addicts. The first caller wanted to know if he could come right over. Thinking it would look a little strange to the neighbors to let men in the garage during the wee hours of the morning, I suggested he wait until daylight. Of course, the moving truck I had hired (at a substantial rate) was a few hours late, so there were several men waiting in the driveway before the sale was even set up. Since some items on the truck were not for sale, I tried to get the movers to take them to the back of the house. I found I was arguing with one man . about whether I had to sell an antique anti-que bedroom set to him because he had seen it before I had moved it out of harm's way. As that argument was taking place, I noticed items being loaded into another man's truck He had assumed we would reach an agreement agree-ment on price. We didn't, and most of the things had to be unloaded. The whole experience was not as frustrating as it may sound. My friend, and only a true friend would help someone with a garage sale, and I met some very nice people. In fact, we were getting along so well with one couple, they decided to stay and have lunch with us. I really began to get a little touchy when potential customers walked through my house to view some of the items on display in the basement. As we walked to the basement, I was offered some very insulting prices for prized furniture which I have in my home. I have the distinct feeling I could liquidate everything left in my home for about $29.99. We kept telling ourselves, "It could be worse. It could be raining." rain-ing." Miraculously, the weather stayed sunny for the entire day, and I consider the sale a success. I not only created some space in my garage, but I have a new crusade. I plan to stalk every garage sale this summer until I find the man who loaded up my filing cabinet in his truck and accidentally forgot to pay for it before he left. |
