I helped a friend do an engine swap on his pick up. The used engine he got had a 5 speed transmission on it and his truck had an automatic, so the 5 speed was left over at the end of it all. So I had the 5 speed sitting at my shop and asked him what he wanted to do with it. He told me if I wanted it I could have it, if I wanted to sell it I could just keep the money, or he would haul it to the scrap. It came out of a running roll over that he knew was a good truck before the wreck, so I figured what the heck, I'll sell it.
I put it on Craigs list with an accurate description. $125 for the tranny and all the clutch parts and flywheel. This guy about 200 miles away calls me and says he wants it and needs it for some special thing he is building. Then he wants to know when I can deliver it. How much do you want to pay me to deliver it? Nothing of course. He says "After all, you are the one needing to sell it". Seriously?
It did make me laugh though, because it just so happened that I had to go to Denver for work about 2 weeks later and would be driving pretty near where he was. I told him if he could wait a couple of weeks and meet me at an exit on the interstate at a specific time I could deliver it. After he boobed a little he decided that would be OK.
I called him the night before to make sure we were still on before I loaded the stuff in my truck and he said "Yup, still on". I meet this guy at the place and after he looks at it, he hands me a bunch of $10 bills folded in half. I count them out real fast and there is only $80. I say, "There is only 80 bucks here" and he says "Right, that is what we agreed on". I tell him "No, the price was $125 and you never offered anything different". He says "Man, I am retired Air Force and I live on a fixed income".
I tell him I don't give a care what his deal is, the price is $125 as I am closing the tailgate on my truck. When he realized I was going to drive off he miraculously pulled $45 bucks out of his other pocket and hands it to me saying " Well, you don't have to be that way about it".
I sold him the tranny, and even helped him slide it into his truck, but I still wonder why I didn't tell the guy to piss off. Where do people like this come from?