 On every available surface was laid out, with precision, his rock
collection, a selection of broken water balloons, a dozen or so Hot
Wheels cars that had been run over by the mail truck, four spent ink
pens, half of a bicycle helmet, a beach ball with a hole in it, a
calculator that was missing the "4," "8" and "=" buttons, a teddy
bear that had been unstuffed and used as a puppet, and various other
broken or damaged items.OK, I was pretty sure who did this, given
that it was in one child's bedroom. The question was, WHY?
The inhabitant of said bedroom entered as my mouth was still
hanging open and asked, "Is Liam coming today? He said he's going to
buy something from my junk store."
"You're selling your junk to your friend?!"
"Yep. Do you see anything here you wanna buy? You can pick
something before he comes."
I choked a little at his gall. How do you explain to your child
why you shouldn't sell something that you think is worthless to your
friends and family?
I concluded that he got the idea when I had a garage sale several
weeks ago. When he asked me, "Why are you selling all that stuff?" I
told him that I didn't use any of it so I might as well sell it to
someone who can use it. Some of it might have been a little worse
for wear, but none of it was broken.
"Honey, you can't sell junk to your friends and family," I said.
"It will eventually cause hard feelings. I didn't sell anything to
my friends and family at my garage sale. If they wanted something, I
just gave it to them."
"But who else am I going to sell this stuff to?" he asked
tearfully.
He had a point. It's not like total strangers would just happen
to be strolling past his bedroom and pop in to have a look.
Proooobably not gonna happen.
[to top of second column] |
 I didn't want to crush his entrepreneurial spirit, though. After
all, he could be the next Sam Walton. He was obviously trying to
make money for some coveted item he saw in a TV commercial. Better
that he tries to earn the money than beg me for the toy. He knows
that never works anyway. Hmmm... what to do?
A light came on in my head. I could kill two birds with one
stone. Not literally, of course. There were no birds in his junk
sale. If there were, they would have been missing a wing... or a
beak... or something.
"How much do you want for the whole lot?" I asked him.
"Really?"
"Yeah, I'll buy it all."
"Hmm... I think it's worth about $300."
I choked again. So much for entrepreneurial spirit. He was a con
artist!
"I'll give you 10 bucks."
"OK, deal!"
As we packed all the junk into garbage bags, he picked up a
squirt gun with a broken trigger and said, "I could prob'ly still
use this. Are you sure you want it?"
Determined to get the junk into the trash bin, I offered, "You
can buy it back for a dollar."
"You want a whole dollar for a broken squirt gun!?"
[By LAURA SNYDER]
Laura Snyder is a nationally syndicated columnist,
author and speaker. You can reach her at
lsnyder@lauraonlife.com
or visit www.lauraonlife.com
for more info.
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