Too Good to be True?

Craig’s List is a bizarre place.  It is built on trust and survives because of people’s street smarts and ability to read ***** SCAM WARNINGS IN ALL CAPS*****.    I am not a Craig’s list expert by any stretch.  I have only sold one item on Craig’s list – a car.  I mostly give things away.  I have learned a few things about successfully giving things away.  1)  be specific  2)  post a picture if you can  3)  use "Curb Alert" (people who look for free stuff on Craig’s List seem to be incapable of logistics, reading a watch or keeping an appointment.)

I gained great faith in the ability to find a home for ANY object using Craig’s List when my friend Rebecca gave away a fully decorated USED Christmas tree.  Rebecca and her husband wanted to decorate a Christmas tree in their new home but were not going to be there for Christmas day.  So, strings of homemade popcorn and cranberries latter – the festive druid symbol had a great 48 hours in their apartment before it hit Craig’s List as a last minute holiday deal – “Free Used Christmas Tree.”  It was in home #2 in less than 24 hours.

Sometimes the “free stuff” on Craig’s List makes me wonder and image the story behind why anyone would be giving away that item.  One Saturday morning at 6:30 AM there was a post “Free Broadway Tickets.”  I wanted to go in and flag the ad, convinced that it was a ticket broker crossing the line and entering the virgin “free stuff” space to taint it with a discount ticket offers.  But instead I found “Two seats to three Broadway shows today and tomorrow.  Wicked, Lion King and Jersey Boys.  Call to arrange pickup.” 

My mind immediately played out the opening scene of CSI – Craig’s List Unit.  This was clearly too good to be true.  Who gives away, I don’t know, $800 worth of Broadway tickets?  I convinced myself this was the Craig’s List version of “Can you help me move this couch into my white van?”  In other words a serial killer. 

But to my surprise by 7:30 AM the ad was down and the tickets gone.  My sister said I should have called.  She said, she would have gone to a free show that weekend at the drop of a hat.  The post made me think, what happened?  Did she breakup with the out of town boyfriend?  Did her aunt cancel at the last minute and being from Ohio and having moved to New York three years ago, she had already seen all three shows?  I never learned the story but made up several in my head.  I imaged that her mom who was coming to New York for a girls’ weekend and was hit by a car and was going to died.  She needed to return home immediately.  No time to call friends.  Only enough time to do a post and hand off the tickets in a Starbucks on Broadway before heading to the airport.  I feel so bad for her.  I hope her flight isn’t too long.  I hope she gets home to say good bye.  I’ll never know what the real story was but it doesn’t matter, I can have empathy anyway.