“Wait! Wait! Just one more minute!”
Standing in the center of our showroom, she was tapping her smartphone feverishly, trying to find a photo of her dining set that she wanted us to sell for her at Furniture Consignment Gallery. She had more photos than the century-old archives of National Geographic.
Patiently, I watched as thousands of photos whizzed by on the screen. Her life was flashing before my eyes, and, well, I have to confess it wasn’t exactly riveting. It was sort of like watching a decade of silent home movies – for someone else’s family.
But I couldn’t break away out of sheer politeness. As the years of photos unspooled, in a last-ditch effort to keep me interested, she decided to provide a stream-of-consciousness commentary. That’s when things got interesting.
“My son’s new girlfriend. See the tattoo? Kind of trampy, don’t you think? Look at the fringe on those boots. She probably has a diamond in her belly button. What does my son see in her?”
“Here’s my dog, Fluffie. Short for Fluffernutter. He died three years ago. We buried him the yard, then we sold the house and they put in a pool. I hope they didn’t dig up Fluffie.”
“This was taken at my niece’s First Communion. The priest was a doll even after a kid threw up on him at the reception.”
“That’s my husband’s favorite arm chair. You wouldn’t want that. He’s fat and the cushion is flat. That man should lay off the beer and Doritos.”
“Our new car. We got a great deal on it. Then my nephew spilled a slushie all over the back seat. Sticky, sticky, sticky. A nightmare. Why didn’t my sister offer to clean it up?”
Finally, she conceded defeat. “I can’t find that photo. Can I email it to you when I find it?”
Great idea!
Getting to know our customers is one of the best things about owning FCG. In this case, I got the full family download, which was in retrospect pretty hilarious. So stop by our showrooms. Bring your phone with photos of the furniture you would like to sell. Show us your dogs, your family and your fascinating collection of garden gnomes.
Or you can shoot us an email with photos of your furniture. Either way, we’re good.
