Yes, I do realize it has been a while on the old blog. Why/why not? Dunno. Whatever.
But I had to share yesterday's yard sale experience with the blog world, because every time I think about it, it irritates the living daylights out of me so somebody has to share my irritation with me.
Anyway, the married kiddo and I are over at a friend's house yesterday morning, trying to sell some surplus junk at her annual neighborhood yard sale. Nice day, things going well. Joking, laughing, have a generally good ole time.
This couple walks up - they look to be around my age (which ain't real young). He has a big fat cigar in his mouth. She looks nice enough.
First of all, when they first walk up, he complains, I assume, about working up a sweat/getting hot/whatever.
Says she, "Do you want me to go to the truck and get you a napkin?", so he can wipe his head, I reckon. (Right then, I'm thinking "What's wrong with his sleeve, or runnin' his hand across his forehead???, or, hey, here's a thought - snuffing out the cigar??")
Apparently he says no, because she stays put and they look around at the stuff.
I'm not listening to their whole shopping experience, so I don't know the reason, but in a few minutes, HE decides to send HER to the truck to get something. Then HE gives HER the keys and tells HER to just go on and bring the truck back up this way. As SHE walks off, HE starts telling us, (in between sucking in on that cigar) that SHE has recently had knee replacement surgery and that she had just fallen down in another yard on that knee and he thought he may have to take her to the emergency room and he felt sorry for her because he knew that it hurt.
Let me just pause for a moment to let that sink in.
Excuse me?? Excuse me?? EXCUSE ME?
I cannot BEGIN to tell you the words that came out of my mouth when she pulled up with the truck and he walked off and got in that truck. The reason that I cannot begin to tell you those words is that my mama reads this blog. My only regret is that I did not say those words while he could hear me.
I was still ..........um........not happy, you might say....... about it last night at 8:30. And I thought of this song. (Actually, I've thought of this song alot over the years, for reasons I won't go into here.) You get the idea of my impression of Yard Sale Man.
(By the way, I've known/remembered this song for 35 years or more - how did I not know until now that it was written by Shel Silverstein?)
Please tell me that you are now as irritated as me.
I'm just sayin' is all.
Here We Are
2 days ago
6 comments:
What a smuck(I don't know how to spell it)! I always regret not saying stuff afterwards. You know he's pushed her around their whole married life. I took some family photos a few months back. The husband said to the wife (and he's totally the domineering type) "Rebecca, please wipe that dirt off you skirt now. " she had a little patch of dirt on it and he said it like she was a 3-yr old.
oh. no. I would have been tempted to drive off and leave him, make his bossy behind walk home. There was this lady that used to come into the library who treated her husband that way, and it used to irritate us to death-made you wonder if she told him they were going to get married rather than him proposing.....
You are so much better than me. I probably would've let slip after he told me that, "and you let her walk to the car?" with a lot of sarcasm. I have to say, I've done that lots, speaking way too quickly!! Ha ha!!!
Maybe it's a generational thing. Maybe it's passed down from family to family, but the idea that the man is lord of the castle and the woman is so much chattel is annoying when it hits you in the face as this did for you. And, like you, it makes me want to write about it when I see it. You never know. Your thoughts might ricochet around the blogosphere and one less person will be unhappy for having known someone who read it. One can only hope.
And you want to say something, right? It goes against human nature to watch and listen and do nothing.
But then you think that it might make things worse. What is cigar guy then gets so pissed off that he does something even meaner when they get out of sight of decent folks? *sigh*
I'm with Tim - what does Cigar guy do when NOT in public?
And then I have to remind myself, that sadly broken knees lady is just as much at fault.
We TEACH people how to treat us. By letting them walk all over us, verbally abuse us, treat us less than what we are, they learn that it's acceptable and they continue the behavior. I wish she had enough self esteem to have let him know YEARS ago, that his way with her was not acceptable.
And yes, I am just as ticked as you now!
My jaw is still dropped. What a piece of work, poor women!
Miss you Aunt Gloria!!!!
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