Quick! Someone stole their common sense!

Here’s a question: when you read an ad for the sale of something or offering of a free item, do you read everything the ad says before responding? Say the ad is posted online. Doesn’t it make sense to read the whole ad, especially text that is capitalized and bolded before responding to the post? Maybe I’m alone on this but my answers to those questions would be OF COURSE!

My TV died last week (what fun huh?) and we purchased a new one. We can’t take it to the recycling center until next week because they only have drop off days one day a month. Yes, seriously. It’s kind of hard to encourage people to recycle when you tell them they can only do it one Saturday a month between 8am and 12pm. I mean, can we get any less convenient then that? Not to mention you have to pay them $5 to give them your dead and useless TV. Anyway, I digress. Since we have to hold on to this thing until that specified date, I decided to post it online just in case someone wanted it for parts or something. It’s listed as free so it’s not like I’m trying to make anything on it.

Here is the exact ad I posted.

“I have a 6 year old 27inch Toshiba TV that is free for the taking. PLEASE NOTE THE TV DOES NOT CURRENTLY WORK! I don't know what's wrong with it and really have no interest in having it checked out. We just simply purchased a new one. Might be best for parts, unless you are familiar with TVs and can repair it yourself. Either way, it's FREE! It's cosmetically in great shape and has never been damaged. One day it worked fine and the next it refused to turn on and instead made clicking sounds. I do still have the remote for it (battery cover on remote is missing though). Sound and picture were completely fine until the day it wouldn't turn on. Cord is in perfect condition. Weighs approximately 40-50lbs with the tube on the back making it somewhat bulky. YOU MUST PICK UP! I will not ship or drop off the TV. I can't drop it off at the Recycling center until April 25th which is the next "drop off" day. I will be holding the TV until then. If no one takes it before that date, then it's gone. PLEASE UNDERSTAND THAT THE TV ISN'T TURNING ON AND NOT FUNCTIONING AT THIS TIME!"

Clearly I tried making it as obvious as possible that the TV does not work. I explained exactly what was going on and tried to make sure there was no doubt about it. Well, apparently it wasn’t enough because I received an email asking if it was still available. I was all like, “Yes it is. You’re aware that it’s not working right? I made sure to put in the ad several times that it doesn’t turn on and just clicks instead.” I just wanted to make sure they knew but I figured they must obviously understand all this. Boy was I wrong! Here’s the email I got back.

“Thanks for getting back to me. We were not aware of all of the issues. Thanks anyway. We are not interested.”

HELLLLOOOO???? Did I miss something here? The ad talked about nothing except what was wrong with the TV. I made the text bold and even capitalized to emphasize it even more. I clearly stated the TV didn’t work several times yet they somehow “weren’t aware of all the issues”.

So I think someone stole their common sense. How did they miss it? So either they thought I wrote that it was a broken TV just because it’s fun to say OR they responded to the ad without even reading a single word I posted. Either way, their common sense is missing and someone should totally give it back.

Maybe we should invent some kind of “common sense donation bank” to help the people lacking this important skill.

Ugh!