I’ve been trying to help my parents rid themselves of the canoe that they have owned and loved for 30 years. I generally try to avoid Craigslist for this sort of thing, but after my incredibly quaint idea of printing out flyers with my name/number on tags at the bottom, strategically placed near all the local area docks failed to yield any results, my hand was forced. It wasn’t 4 hours after I posted my ad when I got a response…

…From a guy who took time out of his busy day, or night, to reply to my ad not to inquire about the canoe, but to tell me my price was too high and that I should “get real.”

For the life of me, I will NEVER understand the compulsion that (some) men seem to have to do this shit. I swear it’s like a compulsion. Does he believe that I’m too stupid to ask for the price I wanted, or that I wouldn’t figure this out on my own? Does he think he is helping me in some way, or does he just feel better knowing that I know his opinion? Or is he trying to be insulting? I just can’t even.

At the instruction of my dad, who really calls the shots on all this, I lowered the price by 25% and added an “obo” to the ad. Of course, this action puts our ad back to the top of the list, which doesn’t hurt. And guess what happens? ANOTHER GUY, pipes up to say pretty much the same as the first. WTAF.

I don’t even have more to say about all this, but just a note for all the GOOD MEN in the world… A REALLY good habit to cultivate is, when you have even one iota of an impulse to just give your two cents on something, EVEN IF you believe you are being helpful, EVEN IF you believe this information could not possibly come from someone else, and EVEN IF you will feel SOOOO much better about yourself when you share this information you know… JUST DON’T DO IT! KEEP. IT. TO. YOURSELF!!! The world will not cease spinning if your opinion is not shared. The laws of the universe continue even when you keep your mouth shut (or your hands off the keyboard). Oh, and you will probably actually extend your life because you won’t be pissing off every woman you ever come across and consequently, she won’t make your life a living hell, as some of you accuse us of doing.

It’s not exactly that I don’t care about what you think or what you know, but actually, I kinda don’t. If I had, let’s say, posted a Craigslist ad with the headline “Seeking men’s opinions; please reply here,” maybe. But that is not at all what I posted. I posted the ad to sell a thing, and if my ad doesn’t result in selling that thing, I will lower the price because I have a minor in economics, damn it!

But here’s an experiment… I think next time, I’m gonna post an ad with a man’s name and see if the same thing happens. Anyone wanna guess? I bet that’s the trick. Are you picking up what I’m putting down here?

Also, does anyone want to buy a canoe?