I’m a Facebook Marketplace frequent flyer. It’s where I get a lot of my cameras. Most of my experiences range from very good to ho-hum.
Very good example: I tell someone I’m interested in what they’re selling. Within a day or two I hear back from them. We exchange a number of polite messages back and forth over a series of minutes, hours, or days, after which I communicate that I’d like to meet and check out their item in person or politely tell them I’m not interested but good luck, etc., etc., etc.
Ho-Hum example: Seller has item listen for sale for over six months. I message them and hear nothing back. I do so again the next day, nothing. I wait a week and try and third and final time (assuming it’s something I’m really interested in). Nothing. So I ask my wife to reach out (maybe they’re just ignoring me). Nothing. Oh well, shrug shoulders, move on.
Then there’s the in the middle, more frustrating type, the type that answers back in a day or two, is friendly, then sets a date to meet. That day comes and they can’t, for whatever reason meet. That’s fine, it happens to me too. So we reschedule. Same thing happens the second time and a third. I’m done by this point. Not pissed, but done. Moving on.
Today I had my first terrible FBMP experience. Messaged a guy about a nearly ten year old iMac. Had a few simple questions about ports on the back. Now, I could have possibly looked this up, I am a Mac user, after all, but I’m a software guy, not necessarily a hardware guy, I’ve never bought a used mac where I had to be concerned about legacy interfaces on the machine, and I didn’t know it was possible to Google a given year of a Mac and magically get a list of specifications. That’s not the point. The questions were pretty straight forward. So he answers and I go back to doing what I’m doing as well as going downstairs to my non-work desk where I do some further measurements to ensure the older 27″ iMac will fit with my current set up. Doesn’t quite. Also do a little more research to determine if I want to go with the old Intel chip (vs. the new M chip sets). Leaning towards the new, mainly because I don’t want to end up with an unsupported Operating System in two or three years. So go back to work when I see a message from the guy asking when I can meet him or if he could drop it off. Pretty cheeky, I thought, given that I’d never agreed to purchase it yet, and frankly, it made me wonder if he was a bot (bots often use this kind of pushiness to get people off balance). I let him know I’ve been doing more research, haven’t decided if I was going with an Intel or M chip set yet, to which he immediately goes off on me, telling me he won’t sell to me. *pause* “Um, okay, what’s that about?” I ask. He launches into a diatribe about how I’m lazy (implied) and made him waste his time running about when I could have just Googled the answers.
I’ve never understood why people have to be rude for no fucking reason. Sure, he said his reason was that I wasted his time, but could you imagine walking in the store where you asked someone three questions about their product only to be shooed out of the store because you’d asked questions? That in itself was a Twilight Zone moment for me. But let’s talk brass tacks: He was under no obligation to answer my questions (and definitely not send pictures of the ports I was asking about). If he’d felt I was asking too many questions, he could have said Google it yourself. And frankly, if we’re to turn the rudeness around, why the fuck didn’t he take the time to include that information in his FBMP ad? Sure, if you’re super familiar with legacy macs you may know you can take that one screen shot and eventually get all the information you need, but why didn’t the lazy fuck just post a link to the specs sheet? He’s trying to sell it, right? He knows it all, shouldn’t he know how to post a goddamn link? I know, I know, I sounds judgmental, and fair enough, I am being, but there’s a certain irony to me that a fair amount of people will go from salesman to jerk, accusing you of the same thing they’ve already done (or in this case, haven’t done).
With my luck he’ll probably read this blog and have something to say about the one star review I gave him. But maybe he should take to heart that he didn’t have to answer, he didn’t have to go off on me, and he could have posted a detailed ad in the first place. Oh, and maybe realize nobody on FBMP is obligated to a committal to purchase after asking a seller one or two questions: that’s not how it works.
Anyhow, I didn’t feel like writing today (surprise) but I forced myself to. Nothing deep or meaningful here, just a rant from someone trying to come back from the dead. A few more things to do then I’m off to the gym.
G’nite,
…a…