Has this ever happened to you? Trying to do the right thing.

Ok. I tried to take the advise of the forum, and do the decent thing over my 9 months of scrapping. I have a story of something that happened a few months ago, that still stays on my mind, and wanted to know if anything similar has happened to any of you all.

One morning I was doing my patrol of a neighborhood I knew the trash collection schedule for. I pulled up and saw this adult size bike parked next to the mailbox and trashcan. The bike didn't look too old, didn't have any flat tire or anything. So instead of strapping it to roof and driving off I make an attempt to ask if it was trash or not. Guy answered, said yes it was trash and i could have it. He was legally blind and had no use for it. I said thanks, and tried to walk away. BUT THAT wasn't happening. He was the talkative type (also wasn't sure if he was slightly mentally challenged - sorry i dont keep up with the politically correct terms for that these days) , started talking about this and that, and said he had a skateboard he had wanted to know if i could do anything with it. I said SURE. after about 5 more minutes of him blabbing, as i get back to my car, He tells me, he works at a hotel and they allowed staff to get some things from there after remodel and he needed cash and had a mini fridge. I said i really could not take it now, maybe next week ( i feel bad knowing that i didn't want to pay for a mini fridge) then he opened up the trash can and said he also had a room safe . asked me to help him pull it out. HE THEN OFFERED TO SELL ME THE ROOM SAFE for $15. . I told him i wasn't looking to buy anything today, but i usually come around once a week. He ended up toting it back up towards the house. Then I made my escape yelling "thanks again!"


All day long I was thinking WHY DID HE TRY TO SELL ME HIS TRASH he had already put in the can? And why when I try to do "the courteous / right thing' do i get stuck with the whackos?

You are not alone. I seem to be a magnet for the guys in the neighborhood who want to come by and chat.. my wife says its my fault.. I'm just trying to be nice to an old fella or 4.. that seem to be lonely. Just trying to be a good human being personally. Some of them try to sell me stuff.. others just want to chat. If I have the time.. I chat- I LOOOVE to talk.. so you know. They may be a little "odd" but I enjoy the spice of life.. if everyone were the same.. it would be a boring place we all live!

I also end up gabbing a bunch one in a while, usually I try to limit it to the length of time it takes me to get a car loaded on the dolly and thats it though, but some times some people want to give me there vehicles life story or theres

Oh yeah, I've gotten that a couple times. The best one I've run into so far was when I went to pick up a couple fridges and I saw a older guy working in his garage with a couple car hoods outside. I went up and asked him if he was throwing them away and he said no, but he ended up taking me and my friend on a WHOLE tour of his property and talked to us for a good half hour. I'm not complaining though, he was one of the coolest guys I've met in a while. He build a drag racing car from scratch in his garage and restored a couple really old classic cars back to perfect condition. It was one of the most amazing things I've seen in a long time. The drag racing car he built from scratch looked similar to this:

http://www.knfilters.com/images/press/kinard1.jpg

Yeah, I get that all the time. I'll go to pick up an old computer and the guy will say it works then tell me every thing that's wrong with it. I just say thanks and walk away.

WOW. The very thing you all are talking about, any good business spends huge $$$$$ to try to get and, 90% of the $ are wasted, its called FACE TIME with a new customer.

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Originally Posted by olddude

WOW. The very thing you all are talking about, any good business spends huge $$$$$ to try to get and, 90% of the $ are wasted, its called FACE TIME with a new customer.

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yes it is, which is why it's always a good thing to be polite, no matter how talkative/odd the person might be, they could turn out to be a re-peat customer if they have your contact info or you give it to them.

Im sorry everybody, but i think my main gripe is being overseen because the message board ad, seperated my paragraph. True I felt a little bit "captured" by the long conversation. BUT THE FACT he tried to sell me stuff that was already out for the garbage and in the trashcan that day. and actually took something that was in the trashcan back to house hoping i would buy it next week lol.