$50 an Hour

One way to think of it is that one hour cost us $50 this past Saturday. Another way to think of it is that a certain person earned more than 6000% interest from us on Tuesday of this week. Here is the story.

At the Willingham's estate sale on Saturday we looked at their dining room table and 8 chairs. It had originally been priced at $200 and was marked down to $100. The chair cushions will have to be replaced, and one of the chairs has tape holding the arm rest together. Also the finish is becoming "alligator skinned" on the table top so the whole set needs to be reworked. The table is oval-shaped and is 66 inches long and 45 inches wide. There are two leaves, each 16 inches wide. Be was concerned about my ever getting around to reworking the set, and where we would store it in the meantime. There was also concern about whether the table would sag in the middle when the leaves were put in it. So we decided to pass on it, and came home. While eating lunch we discussed how the table would fit in our room and how nice the set will look when it is refinished. Be finally decided that she could live with the table as it is until I can work on it. So we went back to the Willingham's. As we arrived, we saw one of the chairs on the front porch and we got this sinking feeling. Sure enough, Bonnie told us that a dealer had bought a whole bunch of the furniture (very cheaply) and was in the process of moving it. She seemed very sorry that it had been sold before we came back, and she said she would find out who bought it.

On Monday, while we were loading all the items they gave to us for Taylor's garage sale, I asked Bonnie again about the dealer. She did not know much information, but said the place was on Butternut near 1st street, and had a white fence in front of the "store." Tuesday morning, about 11:30, we finished a visit to the Social Security Office and drove to Butternut. We had not realized how many resale shops there are on that street. At the third one where we stopped, the lady owner knew of the Willingham sale and told us how to find the place where the dining room set would be. Then she said, "It may have already been sold because I did not see it still there this morning." Our hearts were sinking again as we drove several blocks and found the resale place. There WAS a fence, but is was not white, and all the goods for sale seemed to be outside.

We entered the sale lot and a quick look told us that the table and chairs were not there. There was a lady and a young man trying to wash a bed frame, but they mostly ignored us. I saw a shed off to the side which had a tarp covering the top half of the wide opening into the shed. I walked over and peeked under the tarp, and called to Be, "Here it is." That got the lady's attention, so she asked if we needed any help. I explained that we had seen the table and chairs at the Willingham's and that we were interested in possibly buying them. We went inside the shed, and there was a sign on the table, $400 -- with 8 chairs. So I started running down the set, telling all the things that were wrong with it, and she just looked at me like a tree full of owls. Finally we told her that we had come back to the Willingham's just after she had bought the furniture, so we knew the price that was posted there. I think Be almost fainted when she heard me say it, but I said, "Well, I will get the process started. We will give you $100 and write you a check right now. After a moment she said she would take $200. I said a few more bad things about it, and offered $130. She said good things about it and finally said $150. I hmmm'ed and haww'd a bit, and I could tell that she had reached her limit. So we accepted the bid. After we had given her the check, she said that someone earlier had agreed to pay her $350, but they did not show up to get it. She said she does not hold anything without a deposit. We went back that afternoon in the van and picked it up. You can see a picture of the table with one leaf in, and another picture of one of the chairs.

We are enjoying the table already, and we plan to sell our old table Saturday it we can. However, there is a great deal of nostalgia associated with that table. It is the only table our children have ever known, since we bought it after we had lived in Missouri only one year.




















Okay, here is the teaser. What was the occasion for our visit to the Social Security Office, and what did we learn there?