The Craigslist Life: A rant, a joke, and a few observations on the human condition.

[A.T. Hagan]

This is for all of you folks who advertise on Craigslist. It probably applies as much to all such "classified ads" types of services but at the moment it's Craigslist that is making me both laugh and crazy at the same time. It seems that one just CANNOT word an ad so clearly that someone out there cannot misunderstand it.

What part of "call me AFTER 5 P.M." can they not understand? Yes, it was in bold caps immediately before my phone number. At least three out of five calls will come in the morning or early afternoon. One of them from a school administrator from the high school where my kids will be going. Sigh....

Also, (the turkey ad) "Hatched April of this year. Seven weeks old. Out of the brooder and no longer needing supplemental heat. I cannot tell male from female until they are four months of age. I do not have any mature birds for sale." They still call asking if I can sell them just hens or they want mature birds.

The chicken ad says "red sex-links." NOWHERE does it mention Rhode Island Reds. I do not have any!

Then there are the folks who say they'll be there noonish so I rearrange my plans to meet them since they are talking about buying twenty birds. Finally after one they call to say "they're running a little late but will be there in fifteen to twenty minutes." Fine. I'll wait. Forty five minutes later her husband finally calls to say they are hopelessly lost and can he get directions? Never let it be said that MEN never ask for directions! A half-hour later they finally made it and bought more than two hundred dollars worth of birds. Only cost me most of my Saturday afternoon, but that was the same time the folks who drove for an hour came to decide the turkeys were too young. Muttermuttermutt...

Another person called to say she wanted five turkeys and wants to know if I'll give her a discount. OK, I offered her one because at that time the pen was getting crowded and I needed the space. Then it develops she lives three hours away and wants to know if I'll meet her partway. It so happens I know exactly where her town is so I have a good idea of a meeting place that would be convenient for us both but would require me to drive an hour to get there. I explained I'd have to charge her for the mileage (a few miles is one thing, a 120 mile round trip quite another) but she declined saying "I can't afford those prices." I have my town and county listed in the ad, but she had no idea of where she was in relation to them.

People see what they want to see or perhaps more accurately what they WANT to see no matter how I word the ads.

So what sort of responses do you get to your ads? I know I can't be the only one who gets these folks.

Funny, annoying, make you crazy? Let's hear them!

 

[A.T. Hagan]

It's bird selling season again so once more into the Craig's Life.

Five e-mails came in over the course of one night. All of them from different individuals expressing interest in buying the sex-link and Leghorn pullets I had available. Dutifully answered all five e-mails including calling one on the phone number they gave. Never heard from any of them again.

Put up a flock of a dozen (as in twelve!) end of first lay cycle sex-links. When I have spent hens I like to sell them as a flock if I can so as to empty their tractor all at once so I can do what refurbishing may need to be done before I move in the new flock of pullets. Got a call from a girl said she wanted them all. OK, we agreed on the day/time for about three days in the future. Got a call earlier on the agreed day saying it would be her grandmother who would be picking them up and she was on her way up from Ocala (about thirty five miles to the southwest). She shows up late (of course) but does ultimately arrive. She's driving a Buick Rendezvous (call it a mid-size SUV I suppose). In the back she's got a large wire dog crate with a half-dozen two month old Buff Orpingtons and four mature Pekin ducks in it and no other boxes or cages.

I asked her "how are you going to carry a dozen laying hens?" She said, "We'll have to figure something out." We finally used a couple of sheets of flat cardboard I had laying around to build a barrier in the front and back of the rear of her car to keep them from getting up front with her and her grandson. The Buffs and Pekins in the cage, the sex-links loose in the barricaded space we made with the cardboard. Almost forgot, also bought a box of twenty 2 week old chicks, but those went home in a box in her grandson's lap.

Then there was the fella who called about the turkeys (this one is from three years ago). I had ten 12 week old Midget White turkeys and he said he wanted them all. But could I deliver them to him that afternoon? He was leaving on a trip so it had to be then or not at all. Well, those were all that remained of that year's crop of birds so I said OK. Loaded them up and took them to him. Where he put them in the back of a Ford Excursion and drove them to Pennsylvania. Central Florida to Pennsylvania with ten turkeys inside the vehicle with them... He later told me by the time they reached Savannah they had to roll the windows down for the rest of the trip.

And the seemingly never ending stream of people with the idea that you MUST have a rooster with your hens if you want to get eggs. Biology education in the schools is in vain I tell you, in vain. And "NO" you cannot just feed your birds scratch and still expect to get hardly any eggs (OK, in some optimum free-range situations you could, but not for confined birds!). And the fellow who every time I post my ads tells me I want too much for my birds. I always sell out within three weeks or less (sometimes a lot less) but he's convinced he can get the same birds cheaper elsewhere. Must have a time machine or something.

I do meet some really nice people through Craigslist and 4sale.com so it's not like they are not worth while. Some are repeat customers. I even learn from some. But the entertainment (and insanity) value cannot be denied!

 

[RHRanch]

No, its not just you. Everything you described happening to you has also happened to me. Maybe its the same people with nothing better to do than to torture craigslist sellers.

 

[Wishing4Wings]

I think it's a sign of the times. Technology makes everything move so quickly. Folks want instant gratification and online communication seems to reduce social interaction to simple utility. And anonymity does not encourage manners or politeness. As for common sense, well that seems to be a dying virtue. We humans have these huge brains, but we are forgetting how to use them for the basics!

As for the ads, I think it goes both ways. My husband and I rented a trailer and drove almost 2 hours to buy a vintage motorcycle that was described as "mint" after speaking with the seller who assured us it was "pristine". Guy needed a dictionary! It was not even close, and we wouldn't have paid a quarter of what he was asking. Also, last week I responded to an ad offering guitar lessons for my son, and there has been no reply. Does not instill confidence in one's reliability.

My husband says I go overboard when making arrangements and giving directions, but I find if I don't, I am always the one to suffer the inconvenience. Because he is competent, he expects others to be the same, but they're not always, are they? I do get a good chuckle when the people he's given directions have to call for help!

 

[duckinnut]

Not sure why I even deal with people on CL either when I am selling or buying. I have sold a few things but love the people who say the want something,call you 15 times to make sure you still have it then never hear from them when the times comes. I was selling a deer stand and agreed to meet a guy on a Sunday morn near the exit he was going to his in-laws, about 15 minutes from my house as he was coming from New Hampshire and told him to call me coming thru Boston. Never heard from him,if you didn't want it just call me so I am not standing there like a dope. Another favorite is when they want to talk you down from your stated price. What part of FIRM did you not understand? Also got to love people who advertise stuff and you email or call them and you never hear from them. Geez..... Just give me the courtesy of saying its sold,gave it away something. Hate being left on the hook. Only once did I have a CL experience that went flawlessly, guy called said he wanted my LL Bean decoys,I sent him pictures of them he said fine. Gave me what I asked for them,no questions asked. I had to drive a ways to meet him but went smooth. When using CL I always expect more headache than its probably worth. Most buying people want caviar on a beer budget and the same for the opposite way, people selling think their stuff should be on "Traveling Antique Roadshow" when most of the stuff belongs in a dumpster.

 

[mustang56]

I put an ad on craigs list Saturday for 6 partridge 3 week old silkies.... lady calls says she wants all 6, but can't pick up until Monday,
will I hold them... I said yes... She calls Sunday to make sure I still have them, and wants to come see them at 5pm and will call
me right back.. She didn't call back... so at 6pm I called her.. she said she can't make it tonight (oh really, who would of guessed)
but would be here to pick them up after 4pm tomorrow (which is Monday) ... So Monday comes along and she never calls and
she never showed up... ! What bugs me is, the fact that 3 others asked for these chicks while I'm holding them for her.
Teaches me not to hold anything unless a payment is made...! I never had a problem with CL until a week ago.. lol

 

[vannaHaines]

Same thing happened to me recently. Posted an ad trying to sell my baby roos and I got an email from a person asking if any of the roos were hens....ummm....duh....i said in the post they were roos! Oh well....

 

[hemet dennis]

I must just be lucky never had any problem selling or buying.

 

[hemet dennis]

To the OP you have to remember it's 5:00 o:clock somewhere.

Love that song.

 

[duckinnut]

I must just be lucky never had any problem selling or buying.

I would go play the Lotto with your kind of luck.