Why is it so hard to give things away???
Aug. 16th, 2022 07:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dreamshark I've been using BuyNothing and FreeCycle to give away items we no longer want. Of the 15 items I have listed, about half were easily and successfully gifted, with recipient showing up and taking the item approximately when they said they would (give or take 24 hours). Two items attracted no interest. The rest of them have been a PITA. People express great enthusiasm, promise to show up at a specific time, then just disappear. No pickup, no response to further messages. Or they don't pick up but claim to still be really excited about the item when I message them and keep rescheduling their pickups but somehow just never manage to show up. Then I have to guess when they have finally lost interest and list the item on the other platform. Oddly enough, that has worked more often than not, but doubles the effort.
One woman failed to pick up as promised on multiple items and then had the chutzpa to message me asking for a group picture of all the items I was giving away so she could browse through them and pick out what she wanted! This was interspersed with various messages from her explaining that she hadn't shown up because she had lent her car to her sister for the week or something about her husband bicycling to work (which was maybe an explanation why she didn't have a car that day???). That one was a piece of work. She never actually took anything.
And in the last two days I have had respondents who wanted the item, asked for my address, promised to pick up the next day, and then emailed something to the effect of "I'm sitting in front of your house but can't go up stairs so someone will have to bring it down to me." Mind you, I would have been willing to do that if these ladies had let me know in advance when they were coming (something more specific than "maybe tomorrow."). In one case the woman in question managed to inveigle a handy passerby into going up the stairs and knocking on the door; Richard answered and brought her the garlic roaster. The other one just sent an email saying "On my way. BTW, I'm in a wheelchair and can't go up stairs." Maybe she showed up or maybe she didn't. I don't know. When I saw the email I took her item down to the sidewalk and left it there all afternoon but she neither picked it up nor responded to my query afterwards. I'm offering it to someone else. Screw you, sweet old biddy in wheelchair.
One woman failed to pick up as promised on multiple items and then had the chutzpa to message me asking for a group picture of all the items I was giving away so she could browse through them and pick out what she wanted! This was interspersed with various messages from her explaining that she hadn't shown up because she had lent her car to her sister for the week or something about her husband bicycling to work (which was maybe an explanation why she didn't have a car that day???). That one was a piece of work. She never actually took anything.
And in the last two days I have had respondents who wanted the item, asked for my address, promised to pick up the next day, and then emailed something to the effect of "I'm sitting in front of your house but can't go up stairs so someone will have to bring it down to me." Mind you, I would have been willing to do that if these ladies had let me know in advance when they were coming (something more specific than "maybe tomorrow."). In one case the woman in question managed to inveigle a handy passerby into going up the stairs and knocking on the door; Richard answered and brought her the garlic roaster. The other one just sent an email saying "On my way. BTW, I'm in a wheelchair and can't go up stairs." Maybe she showed up or maybe she didn't. I don't know. When I saw the email I took her item down to the sidewalk and left it there all afternoon but she neither picked it up nor responded to my query afterwards. I'm offering it to someone else. Screw you, sweet old biddy in wheelchair.
