Kids Say the Darndest Things!

A couple of weeks ago, Keith and I were out yard saling in a small suburban city at their city-wide sale, when we stopped at this one house that had stuff spread out all over their circular driveway.  There was a man and a cute little boy of maybe five or six out with the stuff, which was mostly toys.

I found a little gumball machine that I liked, which was marked two bucks.  Just a hair too high for me on that kind of item.  So, I asked the man if he'd take a dollar instead.  The art of the deal, you know!  Well, he totally surprised me by turning to the little boy and asking him if I could pay a dollar instead of two for it.

Then, it dawned on me:  this was the kid's yard sale!  It was his stuff and he'd probably picked it out and helped price it and everything.  I thought that it was pretty cool that Dad was helping him but not making decisions for him.

However, the request totally confounded the little boy.  He pointed at the price tag, looked me square in the eye and said:

"It says 2 dollars."

When we were walking back to the car, Keith said the expression on his face was all "Silly grown up person! Can't you read?"

Dad kind of explained to him  that sometimes people might offer less for something. He could say no or he could say yes or he could ask for a different amount like $1.50.  Well, the kid jumped on the $1.50!  I was so tickled by the whole thing that I paid right up and told the kid he drove a hard bargain.

So, I'm making an addendum to my tips for negotiating posts:

Don't bargain with little kids.  They just don't get it.  And they'll win in the end.  And the younger they are, the cuter they are, which gives them an advantage right from the start.  Never underestimate the devastating power of the cute kid.

Now, I've seen plenty of eight and nine year olds hold their own selling their stuff at yard sales and dealing with bargains and offers and such, but five-six is probably a bit too young for that.  I'll take a better lay of the land next time.

Yard sales!  You never quite know what's going on until you wander into the driveway!