Not a Salesperson

Had a garage sale today. On Friday I wasn't sure I wanted to, but by today I did. I even forfeited my areobics class to do it. I got accidentally smart about something too. I had spent a few hours on Friday advertising stuff on craigslist, so after Shabbat when I started getting responses, I told everyone who wanted to buy something to come during the garage sale. Thinking back on who came today , I'm not really sure if it made a difference on getting people in to see stuff, but at least I knew what was spoken for.

Some weird experiences during the sale. Some people made fun of stuff I had, which made me feel defensive and small. One guy chuckled when he saw two Elie Wiesel books I had and asked if I knew him. I couldn't tell why anyone would ask that other than someone who was being a subtle little bigot. He bought a few of my other books and kind of haggled with me so fast that he took them for much less than I was selling them for.

Setting prices on things was so confusing. So many people said, "how much is this?" and then when I answered, said, 'Hmmmm," and walked away. Others snatched stuff up so fast when I said the price that I wondered if I had asked too little.

I'm not a salesperson. I feel insecure during it, like my successes or failures with selling the stuff is somehow a reflection on me, that I'm wrong about whatever money amount I ask.

I"m also too honest. I don't want to cheat anyone, including myself. Here's a proof of my record for extreme honesty. I was once in Portland on my way to an ATM to get cash for a purchase I had been in the middle of when I discovered I didn't have enough. A man on the street approached me and grabbed my arm. I had never been mugged before, but that's certainly what seemed to be happening now, so I grabbed my arm back and yelled at him clearly, "I don't have any money. I'm on my way to GET some money." I guess I figured that telling him I would soon have a whole lot more cash was somehow going to prove that he couldn't steal any from me now.

In response, he laughed and let go. If he was trying to mug me, I had foiled him.

I took a different route back, by the way.