Monday, August 31, 2009

Giving Dad Some Props


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:

yellowdoggranny said...

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..

secret agent woman said...

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? :)

billy pilgrim said...

would taking dad's half give you satisfaction or regrets when he's gone?

Allan said...

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.

the blogger formerly known as yinyang said...

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.

AngelConradie said...

Aaah... the joys of the non-PC old days!

Lyzard said...

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.)

Allan said...

Lyz- My Dad has thrown his life away... a few coins lost to eBay is chump change compared to that.

Allan said...

Oh, yeah...I need the money too.