Cheapskate Monthly

Ah, last Sunday was again fleamarket day. I decided before I got there that I was going to stick to my guns...no just giving shit away to placate a cheap-ass.

Had a beautiful McCoy pot, had no less than 5 people ask how much, and then walk away after being told $5. Lady asks me, again I say $5. She not only whips out the 5, she proceeds to buy several more things and leaves happy.

Sold nearly EVERYTHING. Went around the fleamarket and "shopped" for a few minutes, came up with a styling Cheerilee pony, a Coach purse, a Vera Bradley purse, an entire set of Harker dishes. Spent $30, left with my original $30 plus another $20. The guy next to us drove off, leaving a smoker, a deck sprayer, 3 pieces of furniture and several other random items. Charley jacks the smoker and sprayer right off. Then people file by and keep asking about the stuff on the table.

At first, we tell them the people drove off. Some of the stuff gets carted off. A family wants one of the desks, and asks us to watch it for them, it's getting late, and we're beat...the people have not come back and it's been almost an hour. Charley says to me "Fuck it. The next person that asks about that thing, I am gonna sell it to them" I say whatever. A couple asks how much is the desk? Charley says make an offer...the guy hands him $24, and we hightail it outta there...lol.

We are driving down the road, and Charley starts having a shit-fit because he just saw a giant-ass bag of packing peanuts on the roadside marked "free". Because he has crammed the smoker and the sprayer in the car, we don't have much room. We shift some crap around and cram the giant bag into the backseat as far as it will go. We drive home with Charley's face on the dashboard, with a box of whoopie cushions in his lap, and our ill-gotten gains crammed all around us.

The only blip on my day was when he kept the entire $24 from the desk...I sat there for 45 minutes babysitting the fuckin' thing too. That, on top of yet again paying for the table, rather pissed me off. He should at least take the $27 off what I owe him, which would make it like $48, but I am sure he'll conveniently "forget" when the time comes. Ass.

Another Day Another Dollar General

Ugh. This weekend is fleamarket time again. I sit here thinking over prices and then "customer" reactions. Last time I asked $5 each for full length bib aprons that, I might add, I could have sold for $15-$20 each on ebay. I had a snotty older woman ask me the price, I told her "$5 each, but I'll go $3". She says "I was thinking more like $1". I wanted to shove them up her candy-arse.

I just smiled and refused to back down, and she sniffed and trotted away. I later sold a few for $3 each. Do these people think about the fact that these items were originally either made, which took material which cost money, and time to make, or they were purchased by the present owner, which cost money to buy and also takes time, seeing as I usually wash, starch and iron my linens?

Nope. They don't.  When I shop at the fleamarket I don't ever ask someone to lower their price, they have a reason for whatever they are asking. I feel like it's shitty and insulting to ask someone who is asking $3 for a $25 item to lower it to a dollar. You're already getting a bargain, why push it?

Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap

Uggg. Another day at the fleamarket. People are so damned cheap and/or destructive. First, we go to set up and are immediately inundated with "Do you have _____?"

I put out several chenille bedspreads, and they swoop in. I price them at $5 each...very reasonable, even for a cutter. The first woman does not question me, she buys 2 at asking price.

Later, a woman looks over a full sized heavier one, and ponders a minute before asking "Will you take $3?" I sigh and agree. This leaves me with 2 left. One is a pink "cutter"...I am dealing with a paying customer, and a woman loudly yells "Hey! How much is this?!" pointing at the cutter. I say $2, she asks if I will take $1. I am fed up. I just say no, and she walks away. Jesus, screw you, lady. There's $15 worth of fabric. I am just going to cut the bastard up into 12 inch sqaures, and sell it on ebay for that. Fuck it. Lazy cheap asses.

Each week we price things with large signs "Scarves: 50 cents", "Books: 50 cents", "Fabric: $1 a bag" and each week we get "How much do you want for_____?" and then the inevitable hiss of breath and walk away. I feel like yelling after them "It's 50 FUCKIN' CENTS! what more do you want?"

They paw over things, dropping them on the ground, and trampling them, and then just leaving them there. Today some woman broke one of Charley's perfume bottles and just left it there. A few weeks back I was asking $1 each for tablecloths, and a woman walked off with 3 of them.

Last week a guy saw my 1940's pin-up postcards sitting in a basket I set aside for them. I had them marked $1 each. There were 33 of them. he asks me "Would you take $5 for all of them?" I wanted to ask him where he got his drugs from. I flat out told him no, and counted them in front of him, and told him they were $1 each...he poked around the table, grabbed a few other things, and asked me if I would take $20 for them. That was reasonable. I agreed.

This week, a man asked me how much my 1 gallon ziplock bags were...I was actually bagging cloth in them in front of him and he asked this and he was serious. I gave him a WTF? look and told them they were mine.

A lady came by and rifled thru my scarves and then asked how much the entire basket was. I told her "I don't know, I haven't counted what's left" So I went and counted them...24. And told her $10 for all of them. She sniffed and then just bought 2 or 3. Later on I restocked the basket with like 20 more scarves and then me and Boss went and looked around, leaving the table to Charley's devices. Bad idea.

I look around and say "Where's my basket?" He's like I sold it? I start panicking "For how much?" He says "Ten bucks" I am like in my mind "YOU FUCKING MORON!!!"

I calmly tell him that I had restocked the goddamned basket and the $10 price I quoted for the earlier lady was for 24 scarves in the basket...not the basket itself! Fuckin' A! This, on top of him sticking me with the entire table fee, has left a bad taste in my mouth about doing this anymore.