"shop-teacher" (shop-teacher)
07/20/2019 at 12:20 • Filed to: Good night and good luck!
6
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"shop-teacher" (shop-teacher)
07/20/2019 at 12:20 • Filed to: Good night and good luck! | 6
| 16 |
I’ve been trying to sell the avocado green ‘78 Apache Wareagle my buddy and I bought together a couple years ago, and affectionately called The Death Camper for a couple months now. We had our fun with it, and want to go another direction for track camping in the future. Typical CL/FB Marketplace stuff. Tons of questions, multiple accepted offer s that went no where, Thursday I even had a buyer “on the way” from the next town over who never showed and ghosted me. You know, standard operating procedure for selling stuff.
Last night I got a text as I was putting my youngest to bed. Nine minutes later, as I was responding to the text before putting my oldest to bed, I got an actual phone call. “We happen to be in Villa Park right now, are you available to show us the camper within the next hour?”
Damn right I am! A half hour later two women and their two enormous (friendly tail wagging) dogs strolled down the driveway. They asked lots of questions, I showed them how to put the top up without the lift system, they offered $350 (I was asking $550). I countered with $400, they accepted. NICE!
I grabbed the title and bills of sale, and one of them handed me a 2" tall stack of singles and tens, with a few twenties and fives to round it out. That’s a first for me, but hey, it all spends just the same. I took her through the paperwork, and she asked me a bunch more questions. It became clear to me that she’s never purchased a vehicle privately before.
They load of all the stuff and put the top down, and we roll it over to their first gen Pacifica. At which point I asked, “Soooooo, where’s your hitch.” The one who paid and signed the papers pointed at the 2" square receiver .
“Yeah, but where’s the actual hitch part?”
Both of them reeled back a little, and then the one said, “Oh, I guess we’ll have to go buy one of those.”
Well shit, I’m not letting this sale fall apart, so I offer to sell them one of mine for an extra $20. They agree, I hand them a hitch. The one proceeds to install it not with a hitch pin, but with a gacked up galvanized grade 2 bolt that her dad had given her. I stopped her, grabbed an extra actual hitch pin, and then realized the hitch I gave them was going to be too low. I grabbed my 4" drop mount, flipped the ball so it was a 4" rise, and showed them how to install it.
OK, so now we have a proper hitch installed. The girls start looking at the trailer, looking at the hitch, looking at me ... “You don’t know how to hook it up, do you ?” I finally said.
So, I showed them how to do that. As they were lowering the tongue jack down, one of them says, “Oh, that’s way easier than I what I thought we were going to have to do!”
“What did you think we were going to do?” I asked.
“I thought we were going to have to pic k the whole thing up and drop it down onto the ball!”
So, we get the trailer hooked up, I told them how to cross the chains and lock the lever arm and whatnot. One of them picks up the trailer wire end, looks at it, shrugs, and then drops it back down.
No, of course they did n’t have a trailer wiring harness. Or maybe they do, and they just did n’t know it. By then , I was fresh out of fucks and told them be careful and good luck.
I was then asked if I had any tips for “driving a trailer,” as she had never done that. I gave them some basics, suggested staying off the interstate (they agreed) and gave them directions for a main route into the city for them.
I know they intend to restore it, as they took all the old parts we pulled out. I wish them the best, they were very nice people , but I think they’re in over their head. I’m just glad it’s out of my driveway.
InFierority Complex
> shop-teacher
07/20/2019 at 12:30 |
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I guess they’ll sink or swim. At least it’s not your problem anymore.
HammerheadFistpunch
> shop-teacher
07/20/2019 at 12:34 |
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Sometimes I don’t believe that people don’t know how to do the basic stuff I take for granted. You know...I figured this out by taking a 5 minute look at it and putting two and two together, not through some college coursework...but then I see stuff like this and go. O h...I’m giving people too much credit apparently , then I have a sad.
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shop-teacher
> HammerheadFistpunch
07/20/2019 at 12:42 |
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Yeah. To be fair, while I showed them/told them what to do, they actually did all of it and they were paying attention. It will be a steep learning curve for them though!
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shop-teacher
> InFierority Complex
07/20/2019 at 12:42 |
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YEP!
TheRealBicycleBuck
> HammerheadFistpunch
07/20/2019 at 12:43 |
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I have a friend who never went to college but is one of the smartest people I know. He has made a career out of being able to look at something for a few minutes and just knowing how it works and how to fix it. I can usually figure it out, but he does it intuitively.
VincentMalamute-Kim
> HammerheadFistpunch
07/20/2019 at 12:48 |
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True. But people who don’t know things can use this internet thing nowadays
and become informed. (you’re right, that’s
too much to ask).
50/50 chance these two ladies are going to end up on a youtube video which we will all shake our heads at.
More likely, they’re just
going to take out a streetlight or pedestrian while turning.
CTSenVy
> shop-teacher
07/20/2019 at 13:02 |
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Why do I have a feeling their side of the stories starts with them browsing Craig’s List with a couple glasses of wine and the phrase “I got a great idea!”
Wish them the best, we all have to start somewhere.
DanZman
> HammerheadFistpunch
07/20/2019 at 13:31 |
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I run into that problem all the time with ratchet straps. No one ever really “taught” me how to use one but I figured it out. Most people struggle so hard with those things. Even people that I generally consider to be very intelligent in other ways.
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shop-teacher
> CTSenVy
07/20/2019 at 13:57 |
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I think you're onto something there. It had a very spur of the moment feel to it all.
BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind
> shop-teacher
07/20/2019 at 14:48 |
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I’ll give them a pass on not having the ball if you’ve never towed before (rookie move) and sometimes I drop my small trailer by hand as it’s easier to line up that way (the ball-lock thingy sticks so you have to slam it a bit).
God I hope they didn’t have to back into their driveway or...anywhere.
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shop-teacher
> DanZman
07/20/2019 at 14:49 |
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Same here with the ratchet straps.
There is also something to realizing when someone else knows more than you, and payi ng attention to what they do. I learned a lot a few weeks ago from w atching the buyer of a scooter I sold strap it down.
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shop-teacher
> BrianGriffin thinks “reliable” is just a state of mind
07/20/2019 at 14:51 |
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Me too. I told them the hand at the bottom of the wheel trick, but who knows.
WilliamsSW
> shop-teacher
07/20/2019 at 18:19 |
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Well, glad it’s gone at any rate!
And these ladies sound inexperienced, but were at least listening to your suggestions it seems. Hopefully they figure it out, do a little research on trailer pulling, and enjoy it. That’s a nice small trailer to start with, too.
And hopefully they have a wiring harness or install one - and use it!
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shop-teacher
> WilliamsSW
07/20/2019 at 19:09 |
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Me too!
And they were listening. They did all the actual hooking up, I just told them what to do. I wish them the best. It's a big project they're taking on.
Urambo Tauro
> shop-teacher
07/20/2019 at 23:13 |
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Wow, they’re really jumping in with both feet, aren’t they? That’s a lot of things to be learning for the first time.
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shop-teacher
> Urambo Tauro
07/20/2019 at 23:25 |
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Yeah, they definitely are! They've got a steep learning curve ahead of themselves. I wish them the best.