That was unexpected. (Weird craigslist experience.)

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I’m moving next week and have been using craigslist to conduct a sort of virtual potlatch, getting rid of a ton of stuff that has acreted over the decades, which I’d rather not move again. (Okay, I’ve sold some stuff, too - but lots and lots of ads in the “free” section.)

One of the items I listed is this psychedelic coffee table. I committed this atrocity when I was eighteen years old - the year I discovered LSD, as it happens. (Can you tell?)

Anyway, I posted the ad this morning before I left for work. If I had any idea how much interest there would be in it, I would have attached a dollar value to it. When I checked my mail during my coffee break, there were already over twenty responses! This is waaay more response than I got for some really nice free stuff - sensible furniture, a full component stereo system, a vcr, a dvd player, boxes of books, boxes of VHS tapes, hundreds of VCDs… cool stuff.

So that was surprising.

What was more surprising is this: Three of the responses were from old friends who recognized the table! Even weirder, one of them was my girlfriend for a short while in my teen years - her B&W photo is on the White Queen square of the trippy chessboard, all hippied-out, in lotus position, and holding an oversized ceramic White Queen chesspiece!

Trippy!

Now I just have to decide who gets my (honestly hideously ugly) table. So far I think it’ll go to the denizens of “Trout House” - a psychedelic purple-and-yellow striped house occupied by 10 bohemian artist types. They say they have a black-light room there that needs something like this.

2

Giving away free stuff is weird. My crap TV/VCR, with the VCR broken, no remote or antenna and a HUGE unit considering the TINY screen – there was practically fighting over it. I was able to post it, correspond with someone and get it picked up within hours. The nice bookshelves took a few days, even longer than the crap bookshelves that look like a blind monkey put them together. No accounting for taste I guess.

3

On one hand, that table is pretty ugly, on the other hand, I kind of want it too, for some reason.

4

That’s a great story. I love craigslist.

5

Our craigslist provided a patio set for me yesterday. Ahh, Craigs. Although I have to say, the Van one sounds much better.

6

I had to delete the posting. Over forty replies! I sent a mass-mailing to all the folks who lost out.

On the off-chance anyone is interested, the text of the ad was:

…and it had a craigslist-sized version of this picture.

Seriously, this is one ugly piece of furniture. I wish that some of my much less-crappy crap attracted a quarter the amount of the attention that this did!

I mean, this is ugly – ugly enough that I would really like to be rid of it – but not quite so retinally-damagingly ugly as the table. How many responses? Zero.

Maybe I should spray-paint it orange and try again.

7

Because it has style.

When it comes to art, a certain kind of ugliness seems to be construed as avant garde.

Then again, maybe they just want somewhere to put things, and a table seems like a useful item for such a desire.

8

Wow, you’re right… that coffee table is stupendously ugly. And yet, very cool. Lucky bohemians!

9

Somebody . . . stop . . .me . . .

DO WANT!

10

Heh-heh…must be the season. My friend and I decided this weekend that my boring wooden picnic table needs the “treatment.” I’m going to pick up some paint this week and we’re going to go to town on it. I can’t wait!!!

11

I think you should tell your tale in the General section of Craig’s List. It would make a great Best Of. Way cooler than the sordid sort of stuff that usually gets picked.

Are you going to visit with your old friends now that you’ve reconnected?

12

Well, that’s what I get for thinking “C’mon, how ugly could it really be?”.

Damn cool story, though…

13

I once accidentally solicited sex over Craigslist.

I’ll have to return with the story when I can dig up the details.

Be back in a few.

14

So one day, a year ago or so, I’m looking for something fun to do, a hobby or a class or a group or something, so I check craigslist. I’m a big fan. I know I’ll find something there. I saw one ad for voice lessons. Cool! I used to sing, and I’ve always wanted to do so again, but I’ve never had real lessons. They were free in exchange for home-cooked meals or massage therapy. I figured he was looking for someone who is an actual massage therapist. There are lots of them advertising on craigslist, right? Tons! Legit ones! For real!!

So anyway, I send this, hoping to set up a nice arrangement:

Hello,

My name is Millit, and I saw your ad on Craigslist. I’m not sure if I’m the kind of person you’re interested in teaching, but I figure, what the hey, I’ll check and see if this might work out. So yes, I would like voice lessons, but I’m not a great singer, and I’m not looking to go professional. I sang choral music in high school, and I was pretty good for high school, but I’m 24 now. My goal is to sing as a hobby–I’d just like to be able to sound good in my shower. That would bring me great joy. :slight_smile:

In return, I give lousy massages, and my cooking is sort of lazy-Midwesterner pastiche, but I’m pretty good at cleaning and/or laundry. I’d be willing to give, say, an hour of cleaning for an hour of lessons, or something like that. The only problem is that you’d be coming to my apartment for the lessons, and I’d have to go to your apartment for cleaning. I live in Brooklyn (Fort Greene), by the way. So what do you think? If you’re very busy or only looking for serious students, that’s cool, I understand. I’m just putting myself out there–I need a hobby, you know?

Thanks, hope to hear from you soon,
Millit

OK, so now, you’re thinking, hahaha, she’s flirting, she invoked an image of herself in the shower…she’s just asking for it! But no, because, you see, I’m MARRIED. Yep, happily. I honestly didn’t think anything of that message I wrote. (Oh, God, I can’t believe I actually said I was “putting myself out there…” :eek: )

His response:

I doubt your massages are THAT lousy and you can improve with practice…I can give you some tips…I don’t really need cleaning as I have roomates and the place is kept pretty clean by us…I would be happy to teach you in trade for massage…no matter how bad at first…if you are willing to trade…Let me know…Here’s a pic…D*****

A PICTURE! He sent his picture. I’m not posting it anywhere, because I’m not a complete tool. So yes, attached to the email is a picture of a grinning hipster. It looks a lot like he wants to teach something other then voice, if you know what I mean. Wink, wink, nudge nudge. I’m mortified, to say the least. I have to say something, but I don’t know what. I stall. Maybe I can say nothing. I let the email drop to the bottom of my inbox, hoping it will fall into the dark outreaches of gmail, never to be seen again.

BUT NO! Two days later, I get this:

Are you still interested? I am free today if so…D*****

NO FREAKING WAY! He really does want to sleep with me! Not teach me to sing! After he gets some pix plz kthx, I’m sure. I decide to say something and head off any future, uh, molestations:

D*****,

Thanks, but no thanks. I’m sorry if I misunderstood things. I don’t think this is what I was looking for, but good luck in your endeavors.

Millit

Heheheh. Endeavors. At this point, we arrived at a mutual understanding:

OK…understood. Good luck finding a voice teacher as well…D*****

My husband now thinks this was pretty funny. I think it’s half funny and half hopelessly stupid. I’ve been a bit more careful on craigslist these days, you know?

15

It’s all about the hook and write-up.

A “Psychedelic coffee table” vs. “Very solid, very '70s chair”

Which one would you click on?

16

Great story, Millit!

I dunno, people seem to really go for the crap.

This went in a blink.

This took forever.

(Okay, that’s not fair… I mean… fifteen dollars, right? Have to think about that one.)

But seriously- One is unambiguously garbage, and the other one isn’t. One was gone the same night, and the other one I despaired of getting rid of until last night. It makes no sense.

17

I’ll bet it’s all just to deprive your husband of further amusement, right?

18

Ah, this thread makes me remember my giant tin foil ball fondly. I put it up in the Boston free stuff listing and it was a girl who lived 3 streets away who wanted it. I remember proudly walking (the long way) through Powderhouse square for all to behold it’s giant-tin-foil-ball-greatness.

The girl who took it even invited me over to a party she was throwing that weekend. In which I got to tell the giant tin foil ball story time after time after time.

19

It was back before craiglist, but when I moved out of my last apartment in Miami I put up an ad on the complex’ corkboard, “moving out, best offer takes it.” I didn’t have much stuff, but you can bet everything went! The computer and its printer were bought by a student moving in - for her mom to have them back home (I’d chosen both specifically because they used a very tiny amount of desk space); the large-enough-to-land-a-copter desk went to the daughter’s apartment. My shelves went for exactly what they’d cost me. The bed I’d gotten from a coworker for free fetched $100; the futon I’d paid $70 for to another person when he left the complex, $40.

Someone paid $20 for a toaster that had cost me $10. A toaster! You can buy one in about any supermarket! That one left me scratching my head in confusion.

20

Perhaps the person was gay and felt deprived of their basic right to receive a free toaster, so they were willing to pay top dollar to make up for their natural insecurity?