I took a personal day from work last week. I dropped Char off at UHS at 7:50, and then picked her up at 3:15. I went thrifting in between.
One of my goals for the day was to look for another CRT TV. I have the Emerson, but that has a 9" screen. It's mostly for display. I needed something slightly bigger if I was actually going to watch movies or play games on it. I didn't have high hopes of seeing anything, though. CRTs have become a popular collectable.
So, I was surprised to spot a CRT TV/ DVD combo at the Many Hands thrift store in West Des Moines. The Toshiba TV was under a bunch of stuff in a full shopping cart. My first thought was, Man, someone beat me to it! and I consoled myself that sometimes that is just the way it goes. I started walking away, but then a store volunteer began pushing the cart towards the electronics section. Wait! It isn't sold. It hasn't been even put on a shelf yet!
As the woman pulled a small flatscreen television from the top of the cart's pile, I asked, "Could I look at this one?"
"Sure!" she replied when she turned around. "I just sent my friend a video of it working on the test bench in the back. She got a real kick out of it. If you want, we can take this to the back again, and you can test it for yourself."
I agreed. She was really helpful, and she was right. The 13" TV was spotless, and it played her test DVD without a hiccup. Sold! I thanked her and carried the television to the register's counter.
The TV wasn't a steal at $70, but when compared to the CRT prices on Marketplace and Craigslist, the amount was pretty fair. Plus, the TV still had its original remote. That's pretty important if the any of the physical buttons on the TV fail. Also, the money goes to charity. So, I got that in my karma bank.
I was happy that they had wrapped the remote in a plastic bag before taping it to the top of the television. Sometimes that packing tape is directly applied to the remote and you can damage the buttons when you remove it.
Speaking of wrapping, a woman already at the counter was buying what looked to be a stack of 25 small photo frames. The cashier was chatting with her as she slowly wrapped each frame in it's own piece of brown paper. I could tell I was going to be standing there for awhile.
That's when another guy spotted the TV I was buying.
His eyes widened, and he tapped his wife's arm with the back of his hand. He nodded to her at my TV and walked over to where I was standing.
He leaned in to get a better look at the TV and then slowly said in a slightly southern accent, "My son lives in Nebraska and they don't have jack in the thrift stores over there." He then looked me in the eye as if he had made a point.
I nodded noncommittally. Sometimes people in thrift stores will start a conversation about what you are buying because they have a fun story to share. I could tell this wasn't going to be one of those situations.
"Well, my son called me last week and told me I should be on the look out for an old tube TV just like this one." He pointed at the TV as he played his dad-card.
"Yeah. Lots of people are looking for these now," I replied, not taking the bait.
He paused for a few seconds as he considered what to say next. Then he shot back, "Well, my son wants one for playing his old video games." His mouth tightened and his eyes narrowed. I imagine it was the same face he made when he was a playground bully.
"Sounds fun." I turned to check the cashier's progress with wrapping the picture frames. I was glad to see she was almost done.
Undeterred, he continued throwing down his dad-cards, "My son says these TVs are called CRTs, whatever that means, and my son says classic video games look best on CRTs just like this one." His voice was tightening up like his face.
"I suppose that's right," I said.
He stood silent for the next 30 seconds trying to figure out how I could be so dumb. I turned and watched the customer ahead of me hand her money to the cashier. He saw this too, and quickly changed tactics while he thought he still had time to trick this rube into giving up that TV.
He put his finger on the price tag and asked incredulously, "They want that much for this?... What do they think they think this is?... You're not actually gonna pay that are you?" It was quite an act. He was even waving his hands around for emphasis. I'm sure he was willing to pay that price, but I didn't point that out.
Instead, I nodded. "Actually, it is a decent price. These are collectable and getting more and more expensive." I patted the top of the TV with my hand. "And nice ones like this are really hard to find." It felt good to throw a little dig at him there at the end.
It was finally was my turn at the register after 30 more seconds of his silence and staring. I slid the TV down the counter and turned it towards the cashier. She scanned the price tag and told me I could tap my card whenever I was ready. I tried tapping my card, but there was a card read error, and my card was denied.
Of course that guy was still standing there. He was watching me trying to pay, and he chortled at my card's error. I inserted my card instead of tapping, and that worked. The card reader beeped in triumph, and only then did he turn and sulk away. I think his last hope was that I didn't have enough money and he could still swoop in and snag the Toshiba from me.
Sheesh. I've been thrifting my entire life, and people can still surprise me.
I told this story to Charlotte on our drive home from school. She said, "The next time some jerk tries to play their dad-card on you, you can play the daughter-card. Just say, 'Well, this is for my daughter, and she likes vintage video games, too.' I don't even care if you're lying about me. You have my permission to play that card."
Good to know.
It's time to party like it's 2002:
It looks better in person. I promise.
