It’s the annual town-wide garage sale event, and a friend is participating by holding a garage sale at her house. I live out of town, but she’s invited me to bring my own things to sell. She’s also invited another friend of hers, a baker, to sell her baked goods.

The three of us have a nice time interacting with customers or people-watching. Another garage sale is directly across the street. The street is a main thoroughfare, so we see many cars drive by carrying second-hand purchases from other garage sales.

Two customers check out the neighbor’s sale before heading our way. They only give our wares a cursory glance.

Customer: “Do you know of any places to eat around here?”

The three of us freeze and look pointedly over at the table covered in baked goods.

Friend: “There’s a diner a few blocks from here.”

Me: “And a crawfish restaurant… but there’s also food right here, if you’re hungry. It’s very delicious.”

Customer: “We’re looking for real food.”

Me: “…”

It’s a sunny Saturday morning, and I’m with my two girls (eleven and thirteen), at a suburban yard sale. The kids come back to me after looking around.

Me: “See anything you like?”

Kid #1: “There was a cheap MacBook. It was, like, a hundred.”

Me: “That’s really cheap!”

Kid #1: “Yeah, but it’s broken. It’s got some big crack on the side!”

Kid #2: “Yeah, it’s huge! Like, it goes all along the side!”

I walk over to inspect it. I pick up the laptop, turning it over in my hands.

Me: “I can’t see the crack.”

Kid #1: “Oh my God, Dad, it’s right there! Are you blind?” *Points.*

Me: “That’s… a CD drive.”

Both of my kids take a pause.

Kid #1: “…What’s a CD?”

I just sigh, suddenly feeling every one of my years, while the yard sale host chuckles from their lawn chair.

I was doing some spring cleaning and decided to put everything I didn’t want on a table in front of my house. People came by throughout the day, picking through and asking weird things like “Do you have this shirt in a large?” Or “I was really hoping you would have some adult DVDs…”

The woman who took the cake arrived hours after everyone else had stopped coming, right as my husband and I were sitting down to dinner.

Woman: *Rapidly knocking on the door.* “Hello? Hello! Is anybody home?”

Husband: *Opening the door.* “Hi. Can I help you?”

Woman: *Shoves a box of random items into his arms.* “Here you go!”

Husband: “Um… why?”

Woman: “For your yard sale thing here.”

Husband: “We aren’t selling anything. We’re giving away our things.

Woman: “Oh. Well…” *She turns to leave.* “Have a nice day!”

My husband catches up to her and puts the box on the trunk of her car.

Woman: “I don’t want it!”

Me: “Neither do we!”

Woman: “Well, just… just take it!”

Me: “For $100, I’ll take everything.”

Woman: “Okay!” *She holds out her hand.*

Me: “No. If you want us to take your junk, you’re paying us.”

Woman: “Absolutely not!”

Husband: “Then take your box and leave.”

The woman snatches the box off her car and drives off. Later that evening, we were watching TV when our front porch light turned on and the camera announced that there was a person outside. We looked out to see the woman running away.

Husband: “Hey! No!”

Woman: “It’s yours now! Bye!”

She drove away. We looked at the box: broken toys, ripped books, stained clothing, nothing even worth putting out. We reached out to the local police, but they basically told us “It’s just trash, throw it away.”

Instead, I went on our town’s Facebook group and uploaded the videos of the woman trying to give us the box earlier in the day and dropping it, and running in the evening.

Me: “Hi neighbors! It looks like one of you got a little confused about what “no” meant today. If anyone knows this woman, please let her know that we did not want her box of broken toys and dirty laundry. The police have been contacted.”

I didn’t include the part where they said they wouldn’t/couldn’t help us, but it didn’t matter. In almost no time, people were commenting, all tagging the same woman. Some of them asked, “is this you?” while others called her out on her behavior. [Woman] messaged me.

Woman: “Take that down! You have no right to record me! That is defamation, and I will sue you!”

Me: “Send your lawyer to come get your s*** sitting by the mailbox then.”

She didn’t say anything else, but she did show up in the very early hours (nearly 3 AM) to collect her box. The camera and porch light turned on again just in time to catch her coming up to the porch and knocking everything off the table before throwing up two middle fingers. My husband and I considered contacting the police again, but since they weren’t helpful the first time, we didn’t. Instead, I updated my post to include a screenshot of our messages and the video of her last visit.

Me: “Thank you to everyone who helped identify yesterday’s visitor. As you can see, she came by to get her box this morning. Have a good weekend, [Town] residents!”

In the end, everything we put out was given away. It was frustrating to deal with that crazy woman, but looking back, it did give us a good laugh!

I recently moved and decided to give away my barely used sofa for free on a local “free stuff” group. A woman messaged me, super excited.

Customer: “I desperately need it!”

She shows up, inspects it, then goes:

Customer: “Oh, I don’t like this beige color, couldn’t you have bought something in grey or navy? Those are trending now.”

Lady, this is free. I’m literally saving you hundreds of dollars. She continued to nitpick the cushions, the fabric, etc.

Customer: “Could you throw in a coffee table to match?”

All while paying me exactly $0. 

I was so flabbergasted, I just kind of stood there and said:

Me: “Uh… you can always paint it if you want?”

Customer: “That’s too much work. Maybe I’ll just wait for someone else’s free one.”

Then she just left.

I honestly can’t wrap my head around the entitlement.

My friend is running a yard sale to raise money for a local charity, and I am helping her. A woman walks by with a box of clothing marked $2 PER ITEM and walks toward her car.

Friend: “Hi, excuse me. You need to pay for that.”

Woman: “I’ll be right back.”

Friend: “Well… you…”

Woman: “What? You think I’m stealing?”

My friend is non-confrontational to the point of being a doormat. This is where I shine.

Me: “Pay before it goes in your car, or I’m calling the cops.”

Woman: “And you are?”

Me: “The one who will call the cops.”

The woman brings the box back but won’t put it down. I start pulling pieces out of the box and she turns away.

Woman: “What are you doing?”

Me: “We need to know how much to charge. Just put the box down and it will go faster.”

Woman: “This is ridiculous. I don’t even want your s***!”

She drops the box on the table with a thud, much too solid for a bunch of clothing. We make eye contact, and she leaves. [Friend] pulls everything out of the box and finds that SOMEONE has stashed several DVDs (pulled from their cases so we had to go find those), some small yard figurines, jewelry, and other odds and ends in with the clothing.

The clothing alone would have been about $20, but with everything else that was in the box, it was nearly $150!