There Is Hope...

 

When we bought our house in February, the previous owners left us lots and lots of useful stuff behind. A really nice lawnmower and snowblower, yard and garden tools, a couple of newer portable air conditioners, etc. They are great and kind humans. 

One of the things they left behind were 4 window air conditioners. They told us that 2 work, 2 don't. Not a problem. Over the Summer, we used the 2 window air conditioners that we had from our previous home and the 2 portables they left for us. 

This was my first experience with using portable air conditioners. I loved them. So much so that I mentioned never using window air conditioners ever again. 

Lisa was totally on board with that.

We decided that this Summer was the last that we would ever use window air conditioners again. The only problem was that we had 6 window air conditioners in the basement that we were never going to use again. 

Instead of bringing them to the dump, I decided to post them on our local yard sale site on Saturday. I posted this photo accompanied by a short paragraph letting people know that of the 6, only 4 work and we used 2 over the Summer. 

The post was for metal scrappers or talented humans who can fix almost everything and sell for a profit. 

Shortly after posting early Saturday evening, my messages blew up. 

The first person who responded said he could pick them up at 11 on Sunday.

He would give us a small amount of cash for them. 

I replied and told him that they were free. 

No cash necessary. 

He was adamant about offering a small amount of cash and he would be at our home Sunday at 11 a.m. to pick them up. 

I gave him our address.

In the meantime, almost a dozen or so other people sent me messages. They wanted the air conditioners. They could come and pick them up immediately. 

I sent them all a reply letting them know that they were spoken for. If by some chance that fell through, I'd reach out by order for the next in line. 

I eventually took the post off of the yard sale site because I was receiving so many private messages. 

On Sunday morning, this gentleman sent me a message asking if we were still on for pickup. I told him yes. He asked if he could pick up a little earlier. I told him absolutely.

Lisa carried all 6 of the air conditioners to our driveway. 

This gentleman let me know promptly that he was on our way and what time he would be here. 

He showed up. In a pickup truck. With his son who was about 8-10 years of age. 

The gentleman and his son loaded the air conditioners onto the truck. He told Lisa that they would have carried them out from the basement for her. 

Then, he handed her the amount of cash that he said he would give. Lisa declined. She reassured him that the air conditioners were listed as free. 

He was adamant and said, "No. This is what I told your wife I would give. Here it is."

The gentleman went onto explain that he scraps metal. A lot of times, he has shown up with scheduled pickups only to be told that the items were not there because someone offered a quicker pickup or a better offer.

Lisa told him that we would not do that. 

Ever.

He was the first to claim.

They talked for a bit. 

He told Lisa that his son takes a lot of stuff apart and they work together. He's teaching his son some valuable lessons about working hard to make money. 

He earned our respect. We earned his. 

They shook hands. 

Over the next year, we're going to be doing a lot of renovations. We told him that we would offer him first dibs before posting any metal scraps we had. 

Kudos to this gentleman. 

This "hard-working" and motivated ethic seems to be lost in this day and age. More and more parents are failing at instilling these ethics into their kids. 

I've written a lot about that over the past few years. Especially since retiring from Independent Living Tutoring. 

This young gentleman and his kid radiated more respect, motivation, determination, and hard-working ethic than I have seen in a long time. 

We think that's really great.

There is hope...