So this post is totally random but give some experiences in the last two weeks I just want to pose a question. Why doesn’t anyone who sells things on Craigslist live in a normal neighborhood? Here are my two examples:
First, last week when I was at the beach in South Carolina, my brother had the great idea that he wanted to buy a motorcycle. He found it on Craigslist and convinced me that it was just a hour trip to check it out. So we get the address, plug it in the GPS and head out. An hour and 45 minutes later I wake him up as we are pulling onto the last 2 miles of dirt road. Seriously 2 miles down a dirt road in the middle of nowhere South Carolina. I look at him and say, “this is where it ends for us, you ok with that?” He affirms that he is and we move on. Now looking back I probably need to work on my “last words” message because had this been a set up the last thing I would have said to my brother was, “If we get robbed, murdered or raped, I’m gonna be pissed at you but more pissed if we are raped”. Luckily, we are safe and you get to hear about this. So we pulled up to the house and there were two guys sitting in lawn chairs in the garage. We pulled up and got out and I couldn’t help but notice that they were hanging out in the garage next to the fridge and gun safe and there were 3 motorcycles. We made small talk and my brother geared up to head out for a test drive. One of the guys was riding his bike with him and as they mounted up he said “I’m gonna take you on a 18 mile loop” to which I thought, awesome I get to hang out with the other dude for a half hour in a garage in the middle of nowhere in lawn chairs next to the gun safe. After talking about anything we could think of for 30 minutes they finally came back. They agreed on the price and while they were doing paperwork sketchy dirt road guy 1 asked me if I collect guns. I said, “I don’t collect but I shoot”. That was all he needed. He handed me a gun out of his pocket and casually mentioned it was loaded as he told me to check it out. This was the first point that I truly felt that we are not gonna be murdered because he wouldn’t have handed me a loaded gun. But then all my fears came back when he took it back and said lets go out back and shoot it. I looked at my brother as if to say “I was right, this is the end” and headed behind the garage with the dude and his gun. It was a small pistol but shot a 410 shot shell, he handed it over to me and I proceeded to demolish my ear drums. It only took two shots but they were the loudest shots I have ever heard. My ears rang for 3 days. I scurried back around to the front and we left with a new motorcycle and two busted ears.
The second story is not as dramatic but gives a good background to my question. The dryer in one of my rental houses quit working and I scoured to find a new one. Most of the ones I found on Craigslist were sold by the time I called except one. This one was posted on Craigslist on Saturday and I emailed within 3 hours. Used dryer in good condition for $50, what could go wrong? I called and said if it works I’ll buy it. He gave me the address and I plugged it in the phone. It was 40 minutes away but in my mind worth it for a $50 dryer. It was 5:00 when I left my house and by 5:30 it was dark, rainy and foggy. I pulled on to the last road which was 7 miles long in the middle of nowhere. The fog and drizzle settled on the winding road just like every horror movie you have ever seen. You scream at the tv to tell the character to not go down that road and the idiot in the movie (which was played by me) went down the road anyway. About 3 miles down the road the speed limit ended. I don’t know how this is possible or what it means but there was a sign that said Speed Limit ends. I didn’t know if I should gun it or turn around but there were 4 more miles to go until I get to knock on someone’s door at night in the middle of no where houses are that the state doesn’t even acknowledge their existence with a speed limit on the road. Fortunately, this guy was very normal and was just hanging out with his two kids in from college.
I haven’t tried to sell anything on craigslist recently so I don’t know if they have changed the registration process to make sure that they are only letting people post things that live in super sketchy places or if I just only look to buy things that people that live in super sketchy places have. If the latter is the case then what does that say about me? Maybe I’m the super sketchy one and they are normal! Anyone have a good Craigslist story to share?