My father wasn't always a mess and he does have some good qualities. Or he did, anyway.
One of the most important lessons he ever taught me as a child was how to shop for groceries; explaining how to read and interpret the 'unit price', ingredient listings and nutritional labels , all of which were new when I was a child. That might not sound like much, but it has saved me countless dollars over my lifetime.
He also has a keen eye for antiques. Unfortunately, he is too wasted to open his wreck of a 'shoppe' for business and you can't sell anything if you never unbolt the door...he's paying rent on a cottage somewhere...a total waste of money.
But coming back to his antiquing skills- he told me to put the tin on eBay, so I did. I was amazed at the response.
I once sold a great deal of my own things on eBay and I consider myself pretty good at it, but I put the item above on-line and had a triple-digit bid within three hours! My mailbox is filling up with people asking me "what I'll take"...wow. I wish Dad could stay sober long enough to round up more stuff like this.
Maybe he'll black-out and forget that he gave it to me and I won't have to give him his half, but it would be better in the long run if he simply sobered up and started antiquing again.
On a different note, that is a Red Indian Tobacco lunchbox...can you imagine giving kids a 'Marlboro' lunchbox these days?
Or a 10-year old boy with a mySpace featuring a photo of him holding a gun to his head?
9 comments:
I also taught my kids, the daughterinlawas and granddaughters the art of coupon clipping..dont use it if you can get the generic cheaper..except for toilet paper..ha..
and I will see a 4 roll of toilet paper and then a different brand with 12 rolls and you'd think oh it's more and it's cheaper..but read the amount of feet of toilet paper for the price..
Even though I'm not a fan of tobacco, I love that tin. Maybe yo could start sneaking your Dad's stuff out a little at a time and selling it? :)
would taking dad's half give you satisfaction or regrets when he's gone?
JS- So many corners to cut...
SAW- I can't do that, I don't know what is his and what is 'family'.
BP- Good question. Probably both, but it's hard to say.
What I really can't imagine is sending a kid to school with a metal tin lunch box. Nowadays the schools might view them as a potential weapon or something stupid.
Aaah... the joys of the non-PC old days!
We have Craig's Dad's coin collection. Your Dad must be in a bad way to EBay it away. C's Dad is a pretty bad alcoholic, but has not yet asked us to sell it to bring in some cash. (He does regularly ask for cash though.)
Lyz- My Dad has thrown his life away... a few coins lost to eBay is chump change compared to that.
Oh, yeah...I need the money too.
Post a Comment