I never ceased to be astounded by how badly some people will behave in the anonymity of the internet. I’m not even talking about the various and sundry imbroglios that are always going on in one or another corner of the publishing world online. Just the general populace.
I recently upgraded laptops. It was my birthday present to myself. In order to bankroll a large chunk of the purchase price, I’ve listed my old laptop for sale on Craigslist. I have, of course, already received no less than 5 various scammers who think I am foolish enough to overlook their poor grammar and use a phony FedEx account to send the laptop to their friend/cousin/brother/son/colleague who’s doing some work or other in Africa. They should Google themselves from time to time. They have lots of claims of fraud against them. In any event, as I have yet to have any legitimate interest from Craigslist, I listed it on a local Classifieds Yahoo group I happen to be a member of.
The first reply from that group was from someone who wanted to trade me a desktop of lesser specs for the laptop I have for sale. I politely declined, explaining that I already had a replacement and was not interested in trading. His response? “your watching your emails to closely. you need to get out more…..” This from the person who responded to me in under 2 minutes? (Which was actually my reply to him) I restrained myself from pointing out that he needed to get educated and learn some grammar and manners. Aren’t you proud?
But seriously. Who does that? I can’t really be angry. The situation is far too absurd to waste the energy.
OMG, and this just in. His reply was “….thinking up something really smart and witty to reply…..”
Um…yeah, I think you miss the point of wit…it’s supposed to be fast and unannounced.
I’m certainly not doing to bother responding. I don’t see the point in continuing the conversation. But really, I never cease to be amazed at the level of stupid, poor behavior people will stoop to when they know their real names or faces aren’t at risk and there’s no one from their social circle standing over their shoulder to act as any kind of social censor.
So yeah, there’s your dose of the absurd for the week.
4 thoughts on “People Behaving Badly”
Hi,
I know that you feel bad. But you know, there are some people who have nothing to do but to scam somebody. If you think that a buyer is a scammer, do not waste your time to reply their message. I will suggest that if you really want to sell your laptop, go to ebay. So that you will check the profile of your buyer. I hope I help you on this matter.
I have sold a number of computers in the past and am well aware of how to avoid scammers. They are all over ebay as well. I’m more interested in finding someone locally.
The Internet’s greatest strength and weakness is it’s ability to give a voice to the anonymous masses. While it allows people to share their thoughts, opinions, and insights, it also allows every idiot with a computer to annoy and harass people out of malicious or greed.
I don’t think that will ever really change, as those traits seem to be inherent to human nature. But I can sympathize; sometimes all you want to do is complete a simple business transaction without having to waste time dealing with morons who apparently don’t have anything better to do than send you pointless emails.
Too true. I am still waiting for that “smart and witty reply.” 😀