When I want to be a glutton for punishment, I post an ad on Craigslist:
Item for FREE.
Fellow e-mails me from 3 hours away asking if I can meet him at his local
Wal-Mart for pick up.
Item for $15, listed as never used, dusty from sitting on a shelf, still has original tag. Woman e-mailed me asking for my address for her GPS. I give it to her. She tells me she will be at our house around 5pm. 5:30 pm hits, and she calls to tell us that while she got off the right exit (3 miles, two turns from our farm,) her "GPS isn't working" so she won't be able to find our farm and will try again some other time. When I asked her if she would like directions, she got confused and said she only relied on her GPS. I ended up convincing her to accept my directions only to find out she was about 200 yards from our driveway on our road. She came in, looked over the item, and pays me. I run to my car to get change from my purse, and when I come upon her, she is talking on her cell phone telling whomever that she has "no idea where she is" and that it is "somewhere between redneckville and Hillbillytown." Those of you that have been to our farm will find that comment humorous.
Two GOOD stories:
I adopted a dog from Craigslist six years ago. She was being listed as an import German Shepherd, and their current dog wasn't getting along with her. The German Shepherd was four years old. Being German Shepherd people, I stepped in. The owner brought out a morbidly obese German Shepherd and all of her paperwork. The owner said, "she's pretty obedient, but she's not as flashy anymore with her commands." It took me two hours (on my 4 hours drive home) to stop and try something out. I leashed her, took her out of my car and said, "PLATZ!" and the dog slammer herself into a down position. I told her "SITZ!" and she leapt up into a sit. Yep - the dog "wasn't flashy" because she was trained in German, not English, and was merely trying to do her best to appease these English-speaking humans. She ended up being ten, not four, and she was definitely an import: and a very well-known, multi-titled working dog. I kept in touch with her breeder in Belgium all the way to my new (very much flashy's!) dog's death.
Another woman had a male guinea pig she was finding a home for. She said she wasn't able to spend much time with him, he was three, etc. She jokingly said, "heck I'd pay someone $1000 to give him a good home." I met the owner, met the piggie, and she loaded up my truck full of supplies and goodies for him. As I was leaving, she handed me a wad of cash for his neutering and "anything else." I tried to give it back to her, but she insisted and said if I did not take it, I could not take Jesse James. It wasn't until I stopped in at the gas station that I realized she had handed me $1000 cash. She wasn't kidding. $200 went for his neuter (yes, they neuter guinea pigs!) and some more cubes for his C+C palace, but the rest I donated to a small animal rescue group.