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Sunday, August 22, 2010

Americana

Yesterday I had my first (and probably last - that was a lot of work!) garage sale. My apartment complex does a one-day sale each year, and having extra time on my hands, I decided to participate this year.

I had no idea what to expect, but I ended up getting quite an education. The sale was scheuled from 8 to 5, but I got cleaned out and sick of it early, so I closed up shop at 1:00. I met lots of people who live in my complex, which was great, and actually ended up talking with a lot of nice folks for quite a while. There was a lot of ethnic diversity, and the Asian folks loved me (because of my time spent in Japan and all the Asian stuff I had.) I had several folks who came back multiple times, and several who stayed for an hour or so just shopping around. I had multiple customers spend over $50 each! I wasn't even sure if I could expect to make over $100, so I feel like I really raked it in. And in the end, everything left over went immediately to Goodwill, so I didn't keep anything that I didn't need to.

I think that every person who walked into my garage said some version of, "This is the most organized garage sale I've ever seen!" That surprised and pleased me, but by about the 50th time, it made me worry about my ability to find a job and not get too wrapped up, or really do anything half-baked. I wasn't trying to be organized when I prepared for the sale. One person even mentioned my handwriting being very nice on the price stickers. Lordy. But I did have classical music playing (more for me than them) and I had everything laid out orderly and in logical groupings. I have a ways to go, don't I?

Least favorite part? People who argue with you over .25¢, or point at an item marked $15.00 and say, "I'll give you $1.00 for it." And there were plenty of those folks. Most favorite part? Interacting with all the cool people -- listening to their stories (and they were sharing, let me tell you) and just getting this broad overview of the community. I'm not a "people person" and I've had my fill for now, but I really liked the social aspect of it.

Most blogable part? When two teenage girls walked around looking at my things for a few minutes and then said to me, "Are you, like, Chinese? You've got a lot of Chinese stuff."

Have you seen me lately? I'm blonde. And 5'11". And really, really American-looking. Besides that I had nothing that was Chinese; everything was Japanese. I should have just said, "Stay in school, girls."

6 comments:

  1. EEK! I should have come to your sale! (As if my collection of Japanese things needs anything else, ha!)

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  2. Dear Ms. LSL

    We at Gregcorp are delighted to offer you the position of Project Manager (the project being Greg) and Life Coach (on condition that we are able to secure something that looks like a life for Greg).

    Please respond at your earliest opportunity

    Regards

    Greg

    p.s. LOVED your post - the hints of fastidiousness, the sociable/solitary thing and that perfect "like" from the teenagers.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I'm with you. No more garage sales. Two things convinced me of it:

    1. The amount of work involved.
    2. The day a guy bought my bicycle and underwear and went down the road with both of them.
    That was the end. It just wasn't right.

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  4. Haha that's hilarious! When I come visit you, you should show me to those girls like a "show and tell" and goes "now HE IS Chinese, I'm NOT" hahah

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  5. "Stay in school, girls."

    Classic LSL! Love it.

    Garage sales are a very interesting experience. People are so weird about what they haggle over. I hate haggling! I take their low balling as a personal affront. But then again, I have a ways to go too, my friend.

    xxoo

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  6. You have the best handwriting I have ever seen in my life - period.

    ReplyDelete