Civility and yard sales

The incidents hit the news last week like grenades: a rapper ranted rudely at an entertainment awards show, a senator shouted sarcasm at the President, and a tennis diva threw a tirade over a ruling—all before millions watching on television. “Where is civility?” commentators asked, processing the parade of negative behavior.

These public figures disappointed me, too, but I wasn’t surprised. Hey, I’d just experienced the darker side of humanity while holding a yard/estate sale of my late mom-in-law’s things. These types were among the yard sale’s shoppers:

Stalkers: They ignore starting times. They’re after items with collector’s value to re-sell. The day before the sale, as I lugged borrowed tables to the lawn, one woman showed up claiming the ad said “today,” then asked if I had certain collectibles she could buy while she was here! On sale day, one man showed up at 7 a.m. (an hour before the sale started) as I was frantically putting out items. He, too, asked about certain collectibles.

Stuffers: They practice the tricks of shoplifters. For this sale, I’d placed matching towel sets (bath, hand, wash cloth) in twist-tied clear plastic bags, the “set” price clearly marked. Midway through the sale, while tidying up display tables, I noticed a woman fumbling with one of the sacks. It seemed unusually full when she came to pay, so I opened it and found other items conveniently “included” for the same price. When I pointed out the problem, she glared and left.

Switchers: They re-price items, thanks to easily-removed price stickers. That had to be the case when people brought ridiculously low-priced items to the cash box table. Even though I was tired after two days of pricing things, I knew I’d priced those items higher. What could I say, except, “You got yourself quite a bargain.”

Scammers: They use planned deceit. A friend who’s a swimming coach helped her team hold a fund-raising sale. At the beginning, a woman gave them $15 to “hold” a $30 vacuum cleaner, saying she’d get the rest of the price from her husband. At the end of the sale, she returned and claimed, “My husband doesn’t want me to get it. Please give me my $30 back.” Told she’d left only $15, she began quarreling loudly. Finally the coach said, “I will give you the $30 you are demanding, but we all know you only left $15 and you are robbing these girls of money for their fund raiser.” She took the $30 and left. (Reminder: get it in writing!)

The Bible speaks to such behavior:
“’It’s no good, it’s no good!’ says the buyer; then off he goes and boasts about his purchase.” --Proverbs 20:14
“Like a partridge that hatches eggs it did not lay is the man who gains riches by unjust means.” –Jeremiah 17:11
“The Lord detests lying lips.” –Proverbs 12:22
“The Lord abhors dishonest scales.” –Proverbs 11:1

Yard sales can be a good thing, especially in helping some of us pare down and others of us live more economically. A lot of nice people came to the yard sale, too, enabling us to continue emptying the earthly home where my mom-in-law lived.

But the shady shoppers? The prophet Jeremiah was right: “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure” (Jeremiah 17:9). There’s nothing like sitting over a cash box full of quarters and crumbled dollar bills to remind you that ordinary people as well as celebrities reveal their souls when “civility” is missing.