I just had to share with you what just happened to me…
I saw a table I liked on Craigslist, so I called up the number and asked the man who answered for the measurements. He said he would call me back in a few minutes. So far … everything is normal.
A man of his word, he called back when right in the middle of giving me the measurements, I hear some commotion coming over the line and some woman starts screaming in the background.
I was alarmed and wasn’t sure what was happening. Then the man I was talking to begins screaming (in the receiver) back at the woman in the background and the phone sounds as if it was being tossed around. And then woman gets on the phone.
“YOU HOME-WRECKING bleep (lets say WITCH)!! WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM MY HUSBAND NOW?”
I say the first thing I can get out after my initial shock wears off: “Ummm… a table?”
She doesn’t even listen to me and screeches “I (lets say…) FREAKING HATE YOU!!!!”
Cue Psycho background music as I begin looking around for hidden cameras.
I’m a little stunned and have no idea what to do at this point. Then I hear the man yelling at the woman, trying to explain how I’m just trying to buy their table off their Craigslist ad. “Oh”, says the woman. “So your not after Jim?”
At this point, one side of my brain is telling me to hang up, but the other side is in such shock (and in a dysfunctional way intrigued by the real life soap opera playing out) that my hand just won’t let me hit the end button.
I reply, a little rattled, “I don’t even know who Jim is”
“Your not trying to get with him?” she asks.
“Definitely not” I say.
“So ya still want the table?” she asks.
“Ummm. I think I’ll pass” I say.
“It’s real nice” she say.
“That’s okay, bye” I say. “Oh yeah. Send Jim my love…” (Just kidding about that last line, but it would’ve been sort of funny, eh?)
Dear Lord! There was never a”Sorry I tried to claw your eyeballs out through the phone”, she just went from C-R-A-Z-Y to sweet-as-can-be in about 5 seconds. Wow!
I should have expected, after all of the calls I have made to strangers on Craiglist, that one of them was going to be that lunatic you read about in the news.
It was like I was taking part in a Jerry Springer episode that I didn’t sign up for.
God help the next woman that calls there about that table.
Thank Goodness I didn’t just drive out to their home. I could have been tackled to the ground before the woman realized why I was there.
As just another reminder … never go pick up furniture by yourself.
But now that I’m a blogger, I have a confession … I’m a little glad I didn’t hang up because then I couldn’t share this disturbing, yet awe inspiring, conversation with all of you.
Maybe this is a sign from God that I have enough furniture in my storage room to last me awhile.
Speaking of tables, here is one that I didn’t have to contact an insane person to get. I got this one a a yard sale this summer, and I spruced it up to take to the craft show Saturday. I painted it with DIY turquoise chalkpaint, distressed it, and coated it in clear wax.
Wow that’s definitely a Springer moment! I would have passed, or if really amazing would have sent two big guys to pick it up for me. I have just started using Craigslist and have worried about people picking things up for me to the point that I make arrangements when my body builder adult son can be visiting at the same time. He is always willing to do his part for my safety:-)
What a good son Lois! With some of the crazies out there you can never be too safe!
Do you still have the number? Sounds like a fun easy target to prank call 🙂
That is hilarious!!! I was thinking the same thing, thank God you didn’t go there to pick it up! That is just craziness!
Nearly the same thing happened to me a few month ago. I needed an electrician and remembered that I had read in the local newspaper that one had just arrived in time… I thought helping someone new was a good thing to do…. A woman picked up and asked me what I wanted with her husband, how I knew him, since when… I was wondering in what mad world we were… And finally I understood that the newspaper had given his private phone rather than his profesional one!!!
Lol! If anytime the phone rings and it’s a woman, you feel the need to interrogate her or go nuts, then maybe you are in a dysfunctional relationship. Wonder what goes on in these households on a normal basis? Crazy people out there!
Shanna, your life is one comedic routine after another! This had me and my Bf, crying tears we were laughing so hard. If you really liked the table, have Topher call, unless Jim is as insecure and psychotically jealous as his wife is. I will have to beware when I am looking at CL tonight and make a mental note, even if I really find a table I really love, do not respond to a Jim.!!
OMGoodness!!! That is hilarious! SO happy you were on the phone instead of at their front door.
I love your blog posts,
Dez
🙂
You and me both Desiree! Thanks for reading!
Oh Shanna! There are “groups” on FB that are but sell trade, _____(your area) and I find all kinds of goodies on there. My latest find was a plastic shopping cart (remember I have a 3 1/2 year old and an almost 1 year old.) so I thought my youngest needed it, since my oldest plays with hers every single day. After texting back and forth she agreed to meet me. I drove 30 minutes to meet her and she didn’t show. I was angry, but figured she was a little flaky by her texts. So after a few days I got back on the group and asked if she still had the item (she didn’t know I was the person texting before b/c I had contacted her through her cell # not FB). She was very nice and said yes she still had it. Then other people started saying they wanted it, which made me more angry thinking I had been talking to her about it already! So I texted again and said I still wanted it. We tried to meet two times but once her son got into trouble at school, the other time her daughter broke her arm. So I’m thinking I’m done…but then I didn’t want to pay full price for one and I just couldn’t let it go. So I FINALLY meet up with her and she says okay I owe you $20. Um no, not unless you want to pay me for taking this dang shopping cart off your hands. She says well I will have to go get it at my house. Really?! Okay so I called my husband telling him about this crazy lady and he is very nervous, saying make sure you park close to other cars and if she looks weird, just leave. I agreed and about ten minutes later she shows up! Wow! After seeing her in person and she was truely kinda weird, i thought to myself: do not ever buy from her again! Now I have a little shopping cart to hide until March 6, for my little Peyten’s first birthday!
What we don’t go through for our children!
I am so happy you didn’t hang up, too funny. Do you call ‘anonymously’ so they don’t have your number? PLEASE be careful!!
Adorable Retro table Shanna!
Thanks Joy!
Hahahaha!!!! I’m just bustin’ up laffin! Oh my gosh… that poor poor man…
bwahahahahahaha that is really quite funny!! glad you didn’t have to meet her in person 🙂
Ashley
Love the table. Your craigslist story is hilarious! Glad you decided to pass on that table!
Yes Sarah, if I went to pick it up I might not have made it back!