More of the Pawn Shop Blues...
Boy howdy, it must be a boring day if I am updating my LJ.
First thing's first. I gotta take this opportunity to thank whatever higher power for keeping me from being as desperate as some of the people that frequent my pawn shop. Good Lord. I haven't seen this many toothless, smelly individuals since I left Arkansas about 6 years ago. Bleech! Don't get me wrong. I had many friends in Arkansas and all of them had teeth and was able to procure a shower every once in a while. However, in the pawn biz, you see a fairly wide cross section of the bottom of the human genome. I am continually amazed at the people that show up, trying to sell me stuff that they find in dumpsters, abandoned buildings, and anywhere else refuse is collected and stored. Take today for instance.
Today is shaping up to be a real slow day. The only good thing I took at all today was a Bose Wave Radio, however the guy that pawns the radio is in EVERY month. He can never make it to his social security check. It kinda helps if yer an alcoholic. This guy comes in on his bike, (bikes are big in Tucson...lots of DUIs in this town) pawns it then picks it up by the 3rd of the following month. Pretty easy money. But for every one good and decent item, I have to scrounge and fumble with half a dozen other, shitty items that wouldn't make me any sort of profit. Case in point, a Mexican who brought in a Durabrand (for those who don't know, Durabrand is and exculsive Wal-mart brand...sucks ass, very low quality) boom box. Now my general procedure is first, hook it up and see if it works and second, check on good ole' Google to see what it's general market value was. This particular boombox was valued NEW at $35 circa 2004. The Mexican fellow had a hard time with my english so I had to repeat myself several times. I offered him $7 because my general rule is to sell something for at least twice the price of what I paid for any item. And nobody is going to pay MSRP for an item in a pawn shop. PERIOD! So my plan was if he took the money, I'd sell it for $20. I had to repeat my offer at least twice and on the third time I made the internation finger sign for "SEVEN" which made the guy's eyeballs pop out of his skull. You would think I couldn't anger him more if I'd pissed on his shoes. In his broken English, he retorted "Seven! Are you out of mind." and stormed out my security doors in a huff.
Another instance today involved a woman who's methamphetimine addiction is developing rapidily. Either that or she has a REALLY bad case of acne. For those of you who don't deal with people addicted to meth or crack, I'll give you some pointers. Most people who especially do meth, develop sores on their face and arms. This is because when they are high, they get itchy sensations on their face and arms like insects crawling under their skin. So they squeeze and pinch until the feeling goes away. After that, it scabs up to make a nice little open sore about the size of your pinky nail. Plus since meth is a stimulant, there is some significiant weight loss. So be aware of anyone who starts developing scabs on their arms or face or even legs and has been loosing lots of wieght. So with the METH ADDICT lesson for today over, let's get back on track. She brought me a pair of diamond stud earrings which were about as lousy diamonds as they can sell legally. One had an occlusion (unformed carbon in the interal structure of the diamond for all you laymen) that was visible at arms length...and these diamonds wern't larger that 1/8ct. That's bad. The other was a murky brown color, just plain ugly. She said that all she had to do was laundry and that $40 would help her get her laundry done. Laundry. That's one I never heard before. Most of use who at one point in our lives, have had to do laundry at a coin-op laundrymat have never had to pay no $40 for clean clothes. Unless you are doing laundry for 8 people, that is.
Another meth addict came in and was trying to sell me some old no-name cds. She looked about 55ish but chances are she was probably only 40. Meth also accelerates how old you look. Take for instance the woman who's picture is out on the net. http://wpln.org/news/methlabs/photos/tues-methuse.jpg. This woman who came into my shop had the "Meth Mouth", basically few teeth. For music cds and dvds, I am very picky about scratches. If it has a scratch, I don't take it. She had approximately 12 cds, each one looked like it was used as a coaster for glasses made of concrete. She only had four that I even considered, however they were of people I've never heard before. Usually some of these people think that if they find a sucker, that they can go to a record store, buy the cheap $2 cds and sell them for $4 to $6. Of course, they really aren't thinking right if they are on the meth, now are they? The woman pleaded and begged, (which I friggin HATE). I told her that I could only give her 25 cents a piece for a total of $1 which isn't even worth the time it takes me to fill out the police report and enter it into the computer. So of course, her and her husband both left, dejected and sad.
I'm such a prick...
So, what have we learned today?
Meth doesn't make you smarter or more attractive.
So until next time.
"Pog Mahone!"
First thing's first. I gotta take this opportunity to thank whatever higher power for keeping me from being as desperate as some of the people that frequent my pawn shop. Good Lord. I haven't seen this many toothless, smelly individuals since I left Arkansas about 6 years ago. Bleech! Don't get me wrong. I had many friends in Arkansas and all of them had teeth and was able to procure a shower every once in a while. However, in the pawn biz, you see a fairly wide cross section of the bottom of the human genome. I am continually amazed at the people that show up, trying to sell me stuff that they find in dumpsters, abandoned buildings, and anywhere else refuse is collected and stored. Take today for instance.
Today is shaping up to be a real slow day. The only good thing I took at all today was a Bose Wave Radio, however the guy that pawns the radio is in EVERY month. He can never make it to his social security check. It kinda helps if yer an alcoholic. This guy comes in on his bike, (bikes are big in Tucson...lots of DUIs in this town) pawns it then picks it up by the 3rd of the following month. Pretty easy money. But for every one good and decent item, I have to scrounge and fumble with half a dozen other, shitty items that wouldn't make me any sort of profit. Case in point, a Mexican who brought in a Durabrand (for those who don't know, Durabrand is and exculsive Wal-mart brand...sucks ass, very low quality) boom box. Now my general procedure is first, hook it up and see if it works and second, check on good ole' Google to see what it's general market value was. This particular boombox was valued NEW at $35 circa 2004. The Mexican fellow had a hard time with my english so I had to repeat myself several times. I offered him $7 because my general rule is to sell something for at least twice the price of what I paid for any item. And nobody is going to pay MSRP for an item in a pawn shop. PERIOD! So my plan was if he took the money, I'd sell it for $20. I had to repeat my offer at least twice and on the third time I made the internation finger sign for "SEVEN" which made the guy's eyeballs pop out of his skull. You would think I couldn't anger him more if I'd pissed on his shoes. In his broken English, he retorted "Seven! Are you out of mind." and stormed out my security doors in a huff.
Another instance today involved a woman who's methamphetimine addiction is developing rapidily. Either that or she has a REALLY bad case of acne. For those of you who don't deal with people addicted to meth or crack, I'll give you some pointers. Most people who especially do meth, develop sores on their face and arms. This is because when they are high, they get itchy sensations on their face and arms like insects crawling under their skin. So they squeeze and pinch until the feeling goes away. After that, it scabs up to make a nice little open sore about the size of your pinky nail. Plus since meth is a stimulant, there is some significiant weight loss. So be aware of anyone who starts developing scabs on their arms or face or even legs and has been loosing lots of wieght. So with the METH ADDICT lesson for today over, let's get back on track. She brought me a pair of diamond stud earrings which were about as lousy diamonds as they can sell legally. One had an occlusion (unformed carbon in the interal structure of the diamond for all you laymen) that was visible at arms length...and these diamonds wern't larger that 1/8ct. That's bad. The other was a murky brown color, just plain ugly. She said that all she had to do was laundry and that $40 would help her get her laundry done. Laundry. That's one I never heard before. Most of use who at one point in our lives, have had to do laundry at a coin-op laundrymat have never had to pay no $40 for clean clothes. Unless you are doing laundry for 8 people, that is.
Another meth addict came in and was trying to sell me some old no-name cds. She looked about 55ish but chances are she was probably only 40. Meth also accelerates how old you look. Take for instance the woman who's picture is out on the net. http://wpln.org/news/methlabs/photos/tues-methuse.jpg. This woman who came into my shop had the "Meth Mouth", basically few teeth. For music cds and dvds, I am very picky about scratches. If it has a scratch, I don't take it. She had approximately 12 cds, each one looked like it was used as a coaster for glasses made of concrete. She only had four that I even considered, however they were of people I've never heard before. Usually some of these people think that if they find a sucker, that they can go to a record store, buy the cheap $2 cds and sell them for $4 to $6. Of course, they really aren't thinking right if they are on the meth, now are they? The woman pleaded and begged, (which I friggin HATE). I told her that I could only give her 25 cents a piece for a total of $1 which isn't even worth the time it takes me to fill out the police report and enter it into the computer. So of course, her and her husband both left, dejected and sad.
I'm such a prick...
So, what have we learned today?
Meth doesn't make you smarter or more attractive.
So until next time.
"Pog Mahone!"