Lame Sauce

I'm in the process of selling my 1997 Nissan Sentra GXE and it's one difficult task. I've listed it on Craigslist.com and have lowered the price 3 times now from $2900 to $2800 to $2550. The very first morning after posting it at $2550, I got a phone call from a guy named Curtis. We planned to meet Monday (today) and go for a test drive. I've seen way too many Dateline and 20/20 shows about people getting murdered, so I asked my friend Dustin if he'd go with me. He so nicely said yes, and then my friend Natalie wanted to tag along for fun, so the three of us headed off to meet good 'ol Curtis. You see, Curtis lives in Honolulu which is an hour+ away from my house. I, the kind person that I am, offered to meet Curtis in Kaneohe (a city in between Honolulu and Laie - where I live - so we could meet half way). He of course agreed because it saved him driving time.

So Natalie and Dustin and I were off and sang songs together from the music playing off of my iPod and we had a great time. We were to meet Curtis in the Safeway parking lot at 3 pm and I told him I would call him when I got to Kaneohe. Drove 4o minutes and at 2:52 we were less than 5 minutes away. I called Curtis and he proceeded to tell me he had to leave Kaneohe and that his friend, Andy, will now be looking at the car, but not to worry because Andy works in Kaneohe and he can pop right over to the grocery store and test drive the car. Huh? Since when do you send your friends to test drive a car YOU are going to buy? Smells fishy.

It was kind of suspicious from the beginning, especially after I called my Dad and explained the situation to him and my Dad tells me, "Sounds like they are partners and buy and sell cars for extra cash on the side. Don't let them rip you off," AND this one is my favorite:

Dad: "Are you alone? Who did you take with you?"

Lindsay: "Dustin and Natalie are with me."

Dad: "Good, you took a boy?"

Lindsay: "Yes Dad, I already told you this."

Dad: "Well, you never know. These guys may be looking for you in the parking lot and planning something."

Lindsay: (Laughing) "OK, that's creepy, but I'm pretty sure that's not going to happen."

Dad: "YOU NEVER KNOW!"

Lindsay: (Telling Natalie and Dustin what my Dad said...laughter in background) "Dad, Dustin and Natalie are laughing at you."

Dad: "Well that's because they're young and stupid!"

Lindsay: (Talking to Natalie and Dustin with Dad on the phone) "Now my Dad says you're stupid."

Dustin and Natalie: (LAUGHING)

Lindsay: "Thanks Dad. You're going to be meeting these people in a few weeks."

So Curtis calls me at 3:10 and tells me that Andy is in a meeting and can't get there for another 15 minutes. He asked if I could wait and I accepted. No prob Bob. I told Curtis I was confused as to why Andy was test driving the car when I've talked with him the whole time and he told me it was because Andy has the money to pay for the car. What? So 3:45 rolls around and I was beginning to get impatient, called my Dad and told him the scoop. He tells me to give them another 5 minutes, and then I should leave. I gave them until 4:01 to show before I left. I called Curtis and left this message:

"Curtis, it's Lindsay. I offered to drive to Kaneohe to meet you half way at 3 PM today in order for you to do a test drive. At 2:52 I called you and said I was 2-3 minutes away from arriving in Kaneohe. At 3:10 you told me Andy is now going to test drive the car and will be here in 15 minutes. It's now 4:01. I'm giving you 5 more minutes, otherwise I'm leaving."

And then I hung up. Didn't even say "bye". Honestly, if you can't make it, that's fine, but don't leave me waiting when we had a planned time and then just not show or not even call and apologize.

Lesson learned: Don't drive and go out of your way to sell something no matter how desperate you are. Make them drive to you.

So I wasted 3 hours of good time when I could have been studying. I only have 7 school days left before I take finals! I don't have time for Curtis' and Andy's.

I bought Dustin lunch for coming because I felt bad I took up a lot of his time. I didn't buy Natalie lunch because she asked to come and I didn't invite her, so I didn't feel obligated. We went across the street to Windward Mall and ate at Arby's. When we were done and leaving the mall, there was a hat store that had the lights on but the gate at the front of the store was pulled down and locked and I read this sign:
I was laughing SO HARD! Took a picture of it with my iPhone, I couldn't resist. Apparently with today's economy, they don't have enough employees to man down the fort and when you gotta go, you GOTTA GO, so you close up shop and write a ridiculous sign so people don't think you abandoned the ship. I love people who have humor.

I'm thinking I might just ship my car to the mainland and drive it. Less work.