ForumGarden

I had a garage sale today, usually someone always tries to steal something, and I'll confront that individual, or refuse to sell to them, whatever.

This was new for me, and I'll try to be polite.

I have a unusual flowering shrub in the front yard - it's beautiful and everyone always asked about it. OK, this car pulls up and 3 women get out , I'm busy chatting with others, and this lady steps into my garden and starts pulling on this shrub for seeds. I said don't pull on that plant - stop.!! The lady acts like she didn't hear me, I'm now stepping towards her, don't , don't pull on that plant & get out of my garden.!! Again she acts like she doesn't understand.

So, I look and turn back towards my house and yell at my husband - Honey get the Gun.. !! She understood that !! The lady stopped pulling on the plant - put the seeds in her purse as she's walking up to my sale, which I said, is there anything else I can give you for free.?? I refused to sell her anything & asked her to leave which I walked her & her friends back to their car.

Anyone else have Garage Sale Stories ??

P.S. We don't own a gun.

Patsy

Gonna disagree with Flops and say...



I don't think it is funny at all.



:(

I wasn't laughing

I was quite pissed, this lady had the audasity to step over the planter border and into the garden to pull on this plant.

I believe Flop was laughing at the scenario. And I usually speak my mind.

Valerie, how would you handle this situation?

Patsy

I always have my cell phone with me... and as I was walking around the

back of her vehicle, I would have said "On the phone to the PD,

calling in a report including your plate".



Anything but kid about getting a gun.

After stating - " Honey get the gun", the lady finally got out of the garden, and

then walked up to the driveway to the sale. I'm standing 10 ft. from her - there is no threat - I have nothing in my hand. People pretend not to understand - I won't play that game for long, I don't waste my spit on that game.

The word GUN - every nationality understands.

Patsy

I don't see anything wrong with it except I would have cussed her out and chased her off my land with a broom. I have family who are seed collectors and regularly take seed pods or cuttings from public plants but they'd never be so rude as to walk into someone's personal garden and start helping themselves! Unreal! :-2

I would venture to guess quite a few nationalities recognize the word

"police", too.



I'm not saying you were a threat or you had anything in your hand.



I'm saying I think use of a gun is a very serious thing, not ever to be taken

lightly or joked about.

OK your right - you win



Patsy

Between my apartment and my son's school there is a small house on a double lot on the canal leading to a small lake. My mother and I admire the yard every time we go by. It is very well cared for and obvious that someone loves it very much.

Last summer, the woman of the house had a garage sale. Mom and I stopped to see if she had anything we needed and instead, talked to the lady of the house. After telling her how much we loved to see her beautiful plants and flowers, she gave us a tour of her yard and offered us cuttings.

Amazing how that works.

But, yeah, if someone had come into my yard like that they most certainly would have gotten an earful.

Thank You LilacDragon,

My point exactly - I had bags of seeds available.

As far as my comments - You had to be there - it was funny, Like "Annie get your gun".. It's difficult to explain all & not knowing my humor and situation, so things get twisted around not knowing all. And I won't argue about my comments , I know what transpired, and several people were laughing at the time..

I have never run into someone doing this - it was surprising and funny.

Patsy

Cheeky sods!

You did right by telling them to get off your property and refusing to sell to them.

I do have to agree with Val though, they could just as easily got pissed off and pulled a gun on you or your husband.

What about a good old fashioned cat fight ? Right there in the drive. This would have:

A. Gotten her out of your garden

B. Probably drummed up more business

C. Theres nothing like a Sat. morning ass kicking to get you all revved up.



Everybody wins ! :-6

Nomad,

Love it - better yet - I have a stainless steel side by side water dispenser, I would love to sell her.!!

There were other people who wanted to drop kick her to the moon, it was funny..

Patsy

Patsy Warnick wrote: Nomad,



Love it - better yet - I have a stainless steel side by side water dispenser, I would love to sell her.!!



There were other people who wanted to drop kick her to the moon, it was funny..



Patsy




YEA ! Lets you and I kick some Forum Garden ass ! :-6 Ready ?

Always

I'm on limited time to play kick ass -

I have to play garage sale today, I'm seriously looking for someone to buy this side by side water dispenser..!

Patsy

Patsy Warnick wrote: Always



I'm on limited time to play kick ass -



I have to play garage sale today, I'm seriously looking for someone to buy this side by side water dispenser..!



Patsy


Well I cant play kick FG's ass alone. Im not going down by myself. I need a patsy to take the fall.

I've hated that name for over 40 years.

My husband made a sign - Green card needed before entering sale.

Patsy

Well anyhoo when your ready to take these yahoos on you just say the word. Ill be over there.

Being over there, wouldn't be any fun.

I have fun at sales, I'm up walking around working the people - serving coffee if needed. I'm not sitting quietly behind a muffin tin bank.

"THEY" should be over there, behind that border wall Pres. Bush has authorized to build - oh, thats right Bush authorized only 28 feet of wall, well that should stop all..!!

Patsy

Patsy Warnick wrote: Being over there, wouldn't be any fun.



I have fun at sales, I'm up walking around working the people - serving coffee if needed. I'm not sitting quietly behind a muffin tin bank.



"THEY" should be over there, behind that border wall Pres. Bush has authorized to build - oh, thats right Bush authorized only 28 feet of wall, well that should stop all..!!



Patsy




Your on some kind of rampage.........

Just work the customers Ill take care of the wall.

Make it electric - too funny

OK - my fun's beginning, how soon can we expect that wall? General time line?

Patsy

Yesterday one old fart was so crabby I gave him my hormone pill.

It was a full moon, so today should be real fun, I'll put my bottle of hormones in my pocket, pass them out with the coffee.

Today's my last day for the sale, can't wait, I'm not a morning person, and I feel like someone beat the hell out of me.

Patsy

It's easy for us to sit here safely and say "I would have done it differently". When it actually happens to us unexpectedly and we don't have time to think it through, our reactions may be completely different. Make sense? If I were ignorant and rude enough to go into a strangers garden, a gun would scare me more than the police.

Nomad wrote: YEA ! Lets you and I kick some Forum Garden ass ! :-6 Ready ?


Oh I'm ready to help, Patsy

LET'S KICK SOME FORUM GARDEN ASS!! :guitarist

i dont blame you for being mad patsy......the nerve of the woman.. i would have waited unitll later when you weren't around and snuck back up there to steal the seeds..........

>



I wasn't going to post in here again but since Patsy used the "you

win" statement, I feel I should if only so everyone doesn't think

"winning" was what I was striving for, because I assure you it wasn't.



Obviously, this is something I feel strongly about, but I tried to be

straightforward about it and didn't mean to arch Patsy's back! (Insert

Nomie's cat fight >) If someone can think of a better way

for me to have said things, then I'm certainly open to suggestion.



Peg, it's BECAUSE things happen to people and they don't think it through

that I did say something. I'm sure when Patsy asked me what I would have

done, she didn't think I would be so quick with an answer or another way.

I have a cool head in just about any situation, partly that comes from my

Daddy, but part of it comes from me creating scenarios in my head

about how to act or react. I think about what I would do if an old lady

collapses in Costco. I think about what I would do if I find an abandoned

infant on the bike path. No, I didn't specifically think about what if

someone took something from my yard, but thinking about other types

of things DOES help your mind set.



Patsy I get that you were joking and people laughed. I GET IT. I

understand, truly. I guess I think that I'm trying to help. It's only

my opinion and if you said hmm didn't think of it that way, fine...

if you said yeah but I'd do it again, okay too. Quite a long time

ago Far Rider made me think about something in a different way, I

didn't change my basic stance on the subject but I did see something

I am grateful to have seen.



Consider this: Suppose someone at the garage sale knows enough

English to know the word gun but doesn't understand intent or

humor or anything else. You open yourself up to all sorts of things

happening up to and including a police contact where you have to

show you don't have a gun, etc. etc. "Eyewitness" statements can

be incredibly faulty, ask anyone who's played the childhood game

"telephone". "Officer, that lady told her husband to get a gun".

EEK at the very least!



There's been a couple other times in just the last week that I have

kept my mouth shut about something, but it's hard for me to do. I

bet some of you wish I had kept it shut here! But this is what FG is

for, so I went ahead.



I like you Patsy, we've had nice exchanges on here, I'd hate for that

to change.



Your "muffin tin bank" cracked me UP!!

Valerie,

I'm not upset at all, it's one of those things, you had to be there.

It's difficult to set up the scenario without it being a book - I don't argue with my husband, I'm not going to argue with anyone else due to their opinion.

We don't own a gun - I'm scared to death of guns, and have no use for guns.

I understand your view, no problem.

Unbelievable - it happened again - this guy went up to the shrub and starts picking - Valerie you'd be so proud of me, I said don't pick that, don't pull on that plant please. You know I'm just going to call the police.

He threw the seeds down and left. Amazes me people think they can come on your property and take..

OK have to go sell, now I carry a baseball bat.. Just kidding !!

Patsy

Patsy Warnick wrote: Valerie,

I'm not upset at all, I understand your view, no problem.

Patsy


And this is FG at its best :-6

What is so special about this bush that everyone wants to pinch seeds from it?

abbey wrote: What is so special about this bush that everyone wants to pinch seeds from it?


That is what I am wondering. What the hell kind of bush do you have that everyone wants to steal seeds from? Are you sure it isn't a pot plant?

I'm thinking an electrical fence around that sucker.

flopstock wrote: Pot?


You know - that green stuff you smoke.

Oh, Lilac D. Great comment, made me laugh.

This plant is cool, blooms these large trumpet shape lavender flowers, it's beautiful. Easy to grow, you can't kill it. My sister can't grow anything, sent some seeds to her in Seattle, she was so excited when the damn thing bloomed.

I have no idea what this plant is - it started growing @ 3yrs ago - I have a garage sale every Oct., every sale I have bags of seeds ready, guaranteed over 20 people will ask and want this plant.

I have never experienced someone just that bold enough to grab this bush and pull at the branches in front of me and several others. just rude..

After this guy threw the seeds down & left today, I thought, I don't have enough drugs for this.. I have to admit the Police did scare him, my husband said, he didn't have his green card, I said I called INS and was put on hold..!! Customer's were cracking up. One guy asked my husband, this is your other half, never a dull moment right, is she always like this. Yes, I wouldn't want any other way - fun...

If anyone wants some seeds - let me know, I have plenty..

Thanks for tolerating my B.S., Sales are always fun and profitable..



Patsy

Patsy, you do make me laugh :wah:

Over in the UK we tend to do Boot Sales more than garage sales, one sunday morning i was all packed up ready to do a boot fair, now i must admit i'm not at my best early in the morning, anyway i drive the van packed with goodies to the boot fair (leaving Jimbo to have a lie in) anyway before i've even had a chance to unpack people are literally in the van with me trying to riffle through my bits, after about 5 seconds i lost it telling them to get out and wait for me to unpack (never mess with me before a caffiene dose!!). Anyway an hour later i'm feeling pretty good, my display is looking really good, the people next door had got me a coffee and the sun is starting to come out. It was staring to get really busy and all of a sudden my stall is jam packed, but what really drove me mad was the people picking up the things and ruining my display, not re-folding the clothes and not putting things where they found them :-5 I was tutting loud enough for them to hear me but they was playing lets pretend i'm deaf (messy sods)!! Anyway Jim turns up 4 hours later looking all chilled and chirpy, by now i'm feeling shattered, my face was feelins as though it had second degree burns (trust me to do a booty on the only Sunday with a heatwave) but to top things off people were trying to knock down the prices so much that i may as well of been giving them away! I am quite stubborn and decided that these people were trying to take the mick, so i'd rather not sell them anything than give it away at a ridiculous price, anyway the end result was Jim getting the hump with me and going home after two hours and me finally getting home after i'd made a trip to the rubbish dump to dump all my sale items, and the worse part was i had to pay to dump them as i was in a van :-5