Sunday, November 27, 2011

MAGPIE TALES - I'M BACK!


This is a true story.

Way, way back in time . . so long ago that I can now remember the story . . . I needed a couch for my new, dusty, crusty apartment.  But I had little funds and so I found myself at a St. Vincent de Paul thrift store.  And there I found a couch.  A big, red, velvety couch.  They had it listed at $11.  I offered six.  They accepted and I took my couch home.

Later, I exhultantly called my Roman Catholic girlfriend and said "I've got a couch!"  I then told her the story about the purchase.

I expected her to be thrilled with my bargaining power.  She had criticized me in the past for paying whatever price was demanded, usually far in excess of what I should have been paying.  So I was thrilled.  And I expected her to be thrilled.

Instead, she said something like "you did what?"  I replied that they had asked for $11 and I bargained them down to $6.  "Wasn't that great?", I implored.

Her reply.  "You cheated the St. Vincent de Paul charity organization out of five dollars?"

Ice hung on her words.

I had failed again.

Later, I came home one night and found a bat flying around my apartment.  Apparently it came free with the couch.

But that's another story.

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Read more Magpie Tales at this site.

20 comments:

  1. We got our first couch at a thrift store, too. $15 and we didn't dicker. No bat, though.

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  2. My first couch was a sofa bed I financed at Levitz. I had it all through college and it nearly broke my back.

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  3. And that's how you were introduced to the thought process of women, right? What did Paul Harvey call it? "The rest of the story." ;)

    S

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  4. Interesting story, well written...

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  5. Loved it! Interesting to see the same pic popping up around the web with such different writing attached.

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  6. Pretty funny story. I would not have liked to find a bat flying around the house and probably would have to move.

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  7. Moaning about a couch? Moaning on a couch is better! Tch Tch!

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  8. Haha! Great story! Could I say i was batty about it? !!

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  9. chiccoreal - Tsk, Tsk!

    For the bat lovers, I think I've told that story before but I shall give it another go, maybe later today.

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  10. a bat...i want to hear that story...

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  11. Helen - Good to hear from you again.

    Brian - Be patient, it's coming up.

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  12. You are a spend thrift....love this Bruce! :-)

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  13. Carrie - Lordy, please don't tell my wife!

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  14. Ha! That's funny. You know my (short) couch story...

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  15. Love the story! We too have a story about a "past couch" but I will never find such a picture to illustrate the anecdote!

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  16. A free bat! Now that was a damn good bargain!

    Anna :o]

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  17. strange story.
    i'm wondering what happened to the bat

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  18. The bat is featured in the next day's posting on this blog: http://oddballobservations.blogspot.com/2011/11/batman.html

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