Why eBay Is Like Sausage

The other day I purchased a very non-standard video card on eBay. Interestingly enough the seller was in the next town over from mine so I decided to save the $12 shipping fee and go pick it up myself.

Suffice it to say, I’m never doing that again!

So, I spoke with the seller guy on the phone to set up a time when I could come pick it up. Assuming that most people work for a living I suggested that I come by after work. He said that was fine. The next day, I got a call from him at about 1:00pm saying that he’ll be home the rest of the day.

Hmmm. Ok, well I work from home so I went to pick it up at about 2:00pm. The guy’s house was in a decidedly “industrial” part of town which was strange but whatever. Everyone has to live somewhere right? Next when I walked up to the house, the front door was wide open and there were some people just “hanging out” watching tv. Remember, this is 2:00pm on a Wednesday.

Once I got into the living room there was all this junk piled up in various places about the room. There were stereos, CB radios, wiring harnesses, etc. The place looked like the present crew either cleaned out a pawn shop or just got back from a burglary.

When I finally met the seller it all came together.

The guy was totally disheveled looking, cigarette hanging from the corner of his mouth and dressed in some tattered jeans and a t-shirt that was WAY past its prime. Needless to say, I grabbed that video card and booked it out of there. Not to mention that I felt like I needed a shower when I got back to the car. Yick!

So how is eBay like sausage you ask? Well eBay works well and you can get some incredible deals but you don’t want to see what happens behind the scenes. Kind of like seeing sausage being made. It tastes great but all you want to see of it is the nice display case at the grocery before you eat it. Again…yick!