I must admit – I’m addicted to craigslist. It’s similar to a gambling addiction: risky and time consuming, but the payoff can be huge. That is why when I saw a firepod interface being sold there for $150 under retail value, I jumped on it. Only problem was that it was in Baltimore. Not to worry, though, Vanessa and I just happen to be heading past there over the weekend for Vanessa’s family reunion. Ben and I reply to the posting, talk him down another $25, and psyche ourselves up.
Then he calls.
Restricted number! Why would his number be blocked?
“The name’s Buddy,” he introduces himself in a thick accent. Not sure where he’s from, but I can say for sure that it’s not the city. He wants to meet at a Walmart parking lot, rather than his house. Why is that I ask?
“Hey man, do you want the pod or not?”
I immediately realize I may have offended him and his planning skills. “Sorry sir, I didn’t mean any offense. We can just meet in some parking lot by your house, and when we get there we’ll give you a call so you can come make the transaction. Trying out products before your buy them is so old fashioned anyway.”
“No. That’s not gonna work; I don’t give my phone number out to just anyone. How about I just call your phone every 10 minutes to check on your status.”
Wait a second!
“Why don’t you want to give us your phone number?”
“You know this day and age… you gotta be careful who has your number.”
He totally makes a good point here. If only he could have given us that sage advice before we gave him our numbers. And yet, what’s done is done.
“Sounds splendid!” I say just before he hangs up.
We rush off to Vanessa’s to tell her the good news. But for some reason, she is not as delighted as we are. Vanessa’s always skeptical! “Are you sure you can trust this guy?” she asks. I try to explain to her what you can infer from someone’s name alone – And if you’ve watched the movie Elf as many times as I have, you learn a thing or two. Plus, if he wasn’t trustworthy, I don’t think he would have gotten the name Buddy. “Well I’m glad he didn’t introduce himself as ‘Lying Jerk’, but with no contact information, I don’t think we should trust this man.”
DOWNER!
He calls back in a few hours. I can tell because the phone says “RESTRICTED”. “Buddy!!” I squeal as I answer the phone, “how’s it going…” Vanessa nudges me and I begrudgingly tell him the bad news, “My girlfriend says I can’t buy the firepod unless you give us some contact information.”
“What? Hey I thought I already explained this to you? And a bunch of people already e-mailed me about this interface and I turned them down because you agreed. You tryin to screw me over here?”
“No no,” I exclaim, “I trust you –I promise I trust you… it’s just that we don’t have your phone… or e-mail… or anything”
“Well, I guess I can give you my e-mail address. Hold on a minute." He says and then hangs up.
I tell Vanessa the good news – we’re getting contact info, and what does she do? She asks if e-mail is completely reliable. “Vanessa, my job uses e-mail. It doesn’t get more reliable than that” As a side note, and a bit of an explanation, Vanessa’s never been the smartest Frau Eva member, so I find myself always clarifying things for her.
15 minutes later he calls back, and tells me the e-mail address:
“buddy7420582135@hotmail.com”. I tell him that we will e-mail him confirming our interest and to test the address, and he can call us after that.
“What do you mean confirm?” he asks, “I thought you said you wanted to buy it.”
“I know,” I say “but my girlfriend’s right here… I mean you and I both know that I’m buying that firepod… buddy…” I immediately send an e-mail, saying “Dearest Buddy, OF COURSE we want the darned thing.” but he doesn’t reply. 15 minutes later he calls us. Apparently, he didn’t get my e-mail, and I even confirm the address. I’m a bit confused, and he suggests that maybe the e-mail is still backed up in the pipes. Now I don’t know the first thing about how e-mail works, or plumbing for that matter, but Buddy’s never lied to me before, and the e-mail even has his name in it, so that’s proof enough for me. I read the e-mail to him and shout “we’re getting it!”
The “transaction” goes just as planned. But when we get it home, it doesn’t seem to record anything to the computer, which is really the only function of an interface. We try for hours to get it to work, but we just can’t seem to figure it out. Luckily, I remember that we have his e-mail address (actually turned out to be a good idea), so I e-mail asking him how to get it to work. It’s been a few days, but once the e-mail gets through his pipes, I think it should be smooth sailing!
