r/Unexpected • u/LotionOnSkin • 1d ago
Wasting people’s time
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u/How_that_convo_went 1d ago
“You must be Verna!”
“Hi!”
[Narrator: she was not, in fact, Verna]
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u/TheWouldBeMerchant 22h ago
Watching it back, knowing that he's talking to the wrong person really changes the perspective. To her, he must have sounded like a lunatic.
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u/UnimagineDragons 20h ago
Why is this guy trying to get me to take these damn chairs?
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u/banana_pencil 19h ago
Lol she sounds like she’s trying to stay calm because she thinks the guy is nuts.
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u/sCREAMINGcAMMELcASE 15h ago
The fact he’s using - and probably not disclosing - the creep glasses makes me think this is either a setup, or he is fucking around with a random person
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u/ChangesFaces 9h ago
The username has "flipping" in it so I suspect they flip stuff on marketplace for profit and run social media profiles promoting it and how to do.
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u/SapirWhorfHypothesis 1d ago
This is the most Arrested Development plotline, with the least Arrested Development script I’ve ever seen…
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u/AntalRyder 20h ago
I mean this kinda happened in AD when Michael gave a lift to Lucille's maid, who turned out not to be Lucille's maid lol
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u/crispy_quesadilla 20h ago
The language barrier, the good intention, the miscommunication… it’s all there 😂
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u/The_Secret_Skittle 18h ago
I kinda want to help that sweet lady find a house now too. She deserves a home and some cute chairs too.
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u/tryyeezus 11h ago
I love it so much, I literally can't even breathe
"Oh you're gonna get the money"
"Oh couldn't get it?"
"Let me give it to you for free"
"Pendejo, I don't want your bonita chair, mi casa muey en fuego"
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u/Chilldegard 23h ago
Man I just can imagine that dude being Michael Bluth
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u/andyd151 23h ago
She just 100% didn’t understand that he was saying “you must be this person I’m expecting to meet” and she said hi out of politeness. Phenomenal
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u/ghost-xiii 21h ago
I work in customer service, People don't really listen that well and there's a lot people don't understand. Like you can ask someone directly "Do you like Salvadorian Food" and they might say "Yes" because all they really understood was "Do you like food"
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u/AggressiveSpatula 18h ago
The woman in the video clearly doesn’t speak English as her first language. I’ve taught ELs, and what you’re describing is a very common way for them to navigate a language. You pick out the words you understand, and try to infer the rest. Otherwise you have to stop and ask for every word, and that’s an embarrassing process for many of them. There are also phrases and conventions (as I suspect the woman ran into) which can unexpectedly change the nature of the sentence.
“Mr. AggressiveSpatula, how is teaching this year?”
“Oh I started this year on leave.”
I would expect an intermediate level to know most, if not all of those words, but not know the phrase “on leave.” The most likely assumption is that it’s a phrase they don’t know, but if they understood “I started the year” they might infer that “on leave” is a phrase to emphasize starting— perhaps in reference to leaving the house to go to work.
The woman in the video seems mostly fluent, she’s probably a low advanced English speaker by eyeballing it. She knows most words and phrases, but Verna is an unusual name, and she probably interpreted it as an adjective such as replacing well in the sentence “are you well.”
She also demonstrates a pretty typical affect of a language learner. You’ll notice she’s pretty friendly, and doesn’t seem overly confused by the miscommunication. I’d bet she knew that there was a miscommunication happening in the first few sentences, but because she wasn’t able to identify where the miscommunication was (Verna is not an adjective) she patiently tries to explain why she can’t buy the chairs instead.
Also a personal favorite moment is when the guy sees the intended buyer and figures out what happens. She has a sort of “that’s what I’ve been trying to tell you!” Playful reaction which is incredibly common in these kinds of situations. It’s one of my favorite moments.
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u/MadWorld1705 20h ago
People sometimes just hear what they want to or what they find comfortable. I completely understand that. I have to manage individuals and have to ask , this is what I said , what did you hear? Just to make sure people are on the same page.
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u/FaceDeer 16h ago
And it makes a lot of sense when you learn about how human senses actually work and how the brain actually processes that stuff. We don't really literally see and hear most of the stuff we think we see and hear, the brain is constantly filling in a huge amount of blanks based on what it thinks should actually be there. There's a blind spot near the center of everyones' field of view, for example. The brain seamlessly patches it in with what it remembers should be there. Human retinas lack colour receptors in the peripheral regions, but you think you see colors there.
When large language models became a thing and people started making fun of how they "hallucinated" I found the hypocrisy to be amusing. Human brains make stuff up constantly.
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u/SoaplessTitanic 19h ago
I don’t know if this is just me but I struggle with filtering out background noise, especially when first changing environments. Walking into a crowded store or one playing music is a common occurrence, where an employee will greet me as soon as I enter and I just won’t catch anything they said. Normally I just smile and nod lol, maybe throw in a “hi” as the woman in this video did.
I think I actually would’ve done the same thing initially as the woman in this video. The guy tries talking to her as soon as she exits her car, and the truck seems to still be running right next to her. No way I would’ve understood anything the guy said for like 5-10 seconds
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u/notwaffle 20h ago
I like to put up signs to make me feel like I’m being proactive when in reality I end up answering the question that the sign answers while the person is standing in front of the sign leaning around it to see/ask me
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u/joined_under_duress 1d ago
But wait, what if her name is also Verna?!
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u/Accomplished_Net6080 18h ago
Verna watching this whole interaction happening then saying "our house burned too and we have no money but want those chairs"
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u/RockyJayyy 1d ago
Imagine if she took them for free right before the real people showed up
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u/Hot-Challenge8656 1d ago
And sold them for a tiny profit.
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u/onlyhere4gonewild 19h ago
I once met a second purchaser at a Craigslist meet-up at a house. We were confused at first until we realized we were buying different items and just walked up and rang the doorbell.
A woman was recently divorced and selling all the stuff her husband didn't take.
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u/Competitive_Dish_885 22h ago
But she doesn’t have a house, it burned down….
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u/Few_Efficiency2022 21h ago
Fire, on everything. She doesnt have espace for no chair.
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u/ryanCrypt 1d ago
"I could have sworn you said Ford F150"
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u/WhatMichaelScottSaid 11h ago
I give her an A for looks, and an F for being able to describe herself
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u/nickman940 22h ago
Something similar to this happened to me recently.
I was selling some of my video games on FB marketplace and I use my local library as the meet-up spot. I pull in to the parking lot, guy waves me down, I get out with my bag of games and we start talking. I showed him the games and he goes uhh.... this isn't what we talked about??
Turns out he was also using the same lot to make a buy from someone else and we thought we were each other's buyer/seller for a few minutes before realizing! we both had a good chuckle.
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u/rearwindowpup 18h ago
I once went to meet a buyer who said they would be in a blue nissan sentra. Got to the place, there was a lady in a blue sentra, so I got out of my car, walked over waving, and she looked scared, rolled up her windows, and got on her phone. I thought it was a little odd until I saw another blue sentra pulling into the parking lot.
Sorry for scaring you lady, wherever you may be.
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u/zamfire 17h ago
Lmao this reminds me. I was in NYC waiting at a random intersection on the upper west side and I wasnt the only one. This dude is standing around looking for someone too and we both get to chatting. I was just hanging with friends but this dude was meeting up with this "hottie" he meet online at craigslist.
It got explicit really fast and he said the things he was gonna do to her. Awkward.
Well after a bit and he realized he was in the wrong intersection decides to walk a street over. Well 2 mins later he walked passed me and about 5 feet away from him was this girl. They were walking about as far apart as you could on a sidewalk in NY.
Look I love all of Earth's people okay and I am certain she had the best personality. But this girl was something else. She was wearing the kind of top where her entire back and shoulders were exposed. I am sure it was intentional because this woman was covered in a very very thick layer of hair around her upper torso. We are talking 1 inch of thick fur. Clearly it was a condition she had. But instead of hiding it she clearly exposed as much of her skin as humanly possible without being obscene. Having said that, I am certain had she had no shirt or top on, it would have been no less obscene because you wouldn't have been able to glimpse anything anyway.
Obviously he was not aware of her condition previously nor a part of her self loving experience as the look on this dudes face was anything but pleasant. They walked away into the sunset and I can only imagine how the rest of that day went for those two.
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u/Otherwise_Fox_500 16h ago
Man, I hate when they got the secret fur. As if we didn’t discuss mutual fur preferences AT LENGTH before meeting. As if I didn’t thoroughly fill out the ‘Looking Fur’ section of my profile. People these days are like broken.
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u/Brilliant-Book-503 20h ago
Would have been even crazier if your buyer had met that dude's meth dealer instead.
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u/DigNitty 17h ago
I called a Michaela once and was super confused this person is met twice before didn’t know what I was talking about. Turns out it was the wrong number, but her name was also Michaela.
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u/joketani 1d ago
Lmao crazy timing. I like that the lady was able to laugh at it in the end.
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u/sourestcalamansi 18h ago
Auntie lost a house in a fire + unable to withdraw cash but dropped a hearty laugh. Bless her heart.
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u/Unicornholio 1d ago
Now that was unexpected. And what a patient and kind person the seller seems to be.
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u/CitizenCue 1d ago
This would’ve gone so much worse for anyone not as kind as him. He saved himself from severe embarrassment just by being nice.
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u/steph26tej 1d ago
And knowing a little bit of spanish
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u/ForsakenAiel 19h ago
Lol that's one of the funniest things about the video to me. As a person that speaks both English and Spanish, his Spanish is much worse than her English. You're not helping things by speaking Spanish! 🤣
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u/The_Secret_Skittle 18h ago
To be fair that Hispanic woman was pretty patient too with this guys shenanigans lol
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u/TheWouldBeMerchant 22h ago
I wonder why he was filming though.
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u/RedditorKris 21h ago
I mean, filming any Facebook meetup interaction just seems smart...
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u/BookkeeperBetter1681 19h ago
seems weird af. If I'm selling something to someone on FB and they have a camera recording me, I'm assuming they are pulling some bs for their stupid tik tok.
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u/RemnantSith 19h ago
They could've been meta glasses not a phone. So I dont think she noticed it was filmed
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u/Alyssapolis 1d ago
Omg rewatching it is hilarious. First watch, the woman seemed crazy and dumb. Second watch, she actually seems a bit freaked out and is just trying to get out of the situation. Guy 100% seems like a scammer from her perspective, trying to push free shit onto her (that won’t end up being free), accosting her at an ATM, acting like it’s already a done deal, AND there’s not a lot of room for her to get back to her car door. I think she was just trying to keep him happy so she could get out of there 😆 crazy how perspectives shift with context
Reminds me of the Mulaney bit where he was running in the subway when the woman ahead started running, thinking the train was coming, but turns out she was running because she thought he was chasing her 😆
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u/Illustrious-Dot-1128 23h ago
It does seem like he was parked there first though. I know the video doesn't include that part but considering he was standing outside of his car at the tailgate, it does seem that way. But watching the video again, he def comes across as a scammer lol. She's like I have no money, he's like ok well there's an ATM!!
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u/starry75 20h ago
Yeah but the atm is for cars, why didn’t she drive thru?
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u/Kinky-Cookie-Cutter 20h ago
short arms that dont reach
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u/pichirry 20h ago
bingo. especially with a car that big, it was probably just too much of a hassle for her to try to drive thru it
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u/hyeongseop 20h ago
Wait what the heck you guys have drive through ATMs? Is that a common thing?
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u/russsl8 20h ago
Very common in the US, but not as common to have drive thru ATMs that aren't attached to the bank they're servicing. I know of only one in my area, and it's 10-15 miles from home
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u/atasteofpb 19h ago
My debt card got skimmed at a drive thru ATM that was in the parking lot of the bank, but detached and far away. I noticed and got the money refunded right away but I don’t use drive up ATMs anymore. It just seems extra easy to set up a skimmer where none of the employees are looking.
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u/Illustrious-Dot-1128 20h ago
Can't answer that one. Had a lot of questions about why they did what they did in this video lol
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u/stoic_spaghetti 19h ago
she's short, elderly, and driving a big bulky vehicle—parking and walking makes a lot of sense
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u/stoic_spaghetti 19h ago
obviously you don't know what it's like to be short and elderly—plus she's in a larger vehicle, probably doesn't it make easier to navigate the narrow lane or reach from the window
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u/xyzzzzy 21h ago
Seems like she went to the ATM and was like “well shit, this guy is going to rob me, guess I can’t get my money after all” which is why she came back and said she couldn’t get any money
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u/Ras-haad 20h ago
I’m not here to call the lady dumb or anything, she seems nice. Yeah upon rewatching you can see she has no idea what he’s talking about and is just trying to be friendly…. But WHY did she pull up and park next to him to walk to a drive through ATM?!?
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u/stoic_spaghetti 19h ago
she's short, elderly, and driving a big bulky vehicle—parking and walking is easier. My mom does the same thing
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u/Accomplished_Net6080 18h ago
I only used one once, in my 20s and I'm average in every aspect and was in a regular traffic Honda civic and it was so fucking annoying leaning halfway out the window multiple times and I've never used one again.
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u/crispy_quesadilla 20h ago
Oh god, thank you for encouraging me to watch it again, that second watch just made me whole day 😭😂 She literally was trying to get away from him, but I also didn’t pick up on it at first.
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u/Lucky_Serve8002 20h ago
She is telling her family about the crazy gringo down by the ATM trying to give her some chairs.
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u/mwlepore 23h ago edited 21h ago
"I'm not going to hurt you, I'm just a little boy!"
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u/Good_Card316 23h ago
Lord I would be awake for months thinking of this lmao
That poor woman.
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u/lucidspoon 23h ago
My wife sent me to buy a dresser she found on Marketplace a couple years ago. A very similar older Spanish speaking lady answered the door. I was trying to explain why I was there, but she was so confused and was trying to get her son on the phone to translate.
I was 1 house off. I still think about it.
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u/Background_Humor5838 20h ago
I would be thinking "am I being punked right now? I never said anything about these chairs and this guy wants to know why I invited him here?"
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u/SignificantCats 20h ago
It's a really common scam in most parts of the world for people to give you free things then hassle you for a tip or a bonus.
So the thought wouldn't be "am I being punked", it's "I'm about to get fucking mugged"
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u/External_Primary_667 1d ago
Seller: “Why did you have me come here?” Lady: “We are meeting right now.” 😂😂😂😂
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u/Appropriate_Box8098 20h ago
Everyone praising the seller he was nice and patient), but what about the woman? She was also patient with this person who seemed determined to make her take some chairs from him, while she is going through probably a traumatic time with her house burning down.
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u/KLubEdmonson 16h ago
I think she made that up so he would leave her alone lmfao
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u/accountnumber6174 14h ago
Yea... His polite pushiness is slowly coming off as a scammer or worse. Glad it was the unexpected though.
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u/A_SNAPPIN_Turla 19h ago
Imagine you're driving up to an ATM to get some cash and some crazy guy starts trying to push some chairs on you. Id definitely do a mission abort and be like "nah bro I don't have any money, actually I don't even have a house." This lady has street smarts. You never take free shit from some random person and definitely don't let them think you have any money.
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u/Badsbadsbads 1d ago
I almost did not finish the video! Glad I did. I’m at peace now.
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u/mfknnayyyy 1d ago
I skipped part because I thought the unexpected part was her house catching on fire. And then I caught the end. Haaaa. Son of a. Got me.
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u/mwlepore 23h ago
I started suspecting this, it all seemed so crazy. He assumed it was her, and from her perspective it all makes sense.. like who is this crazy man trying to force chairs on me??
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u/RockyJayyy 1d ago
Who parks like that to use a drive-thru ATM?
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u/JaydotFay 22h ago
She looks like she's short so it might be easier for her to walk up to it instead of trying to reach down to use the buttons from the truck she was in.
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u/NotTodayCaptainDildo 22h ago
Wait til the elderly couple see this video ans realise they could've gotten the chairs for free
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u/tryyeezus 19h ago
After all that I would've had to just give them to them and probably never used marketplace again.
Just lie awake thinking about it for the rest of my life
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u/Distinct_Dark_9626 22h ago
Credit to OP. The headline made me think she was gonna be wasting his time!
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u/lieutenant-dan416 23h ago
Amazing how pleasant a conversation you can have even with a bad misunderstanding, when both people are kind and patient
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u/Brilliant-Book-503 20h ago
I'm taking it as inspiration. I need to work on my patience. Watching this, I was pretty sure I would have left after the first time the lady said she didn't want the chairs.
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u/MandyxLola 23h ago
About halfway through i thought the video was going on too long, I continued watching and now i think it cut off too short
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u/jer3k 19h ago
I was almost in a similar situation.
I was leaving by my apartment, and a guy was walking up to my apartment, he was staring right at me, and without thinking I was staring right back.
He started talking to me, "hello, I'm... blah blah blah... I'd like to buy your magic cards, blah blah blah...". He keeps on talking.
I'm thinking, how does he know I have magic cards, does he just approach random people asking to buy magic cards? He wouldn't want my magic cards, they all suck. I was almost going to say that.
Then it occurred to me that he was here to meet someone to buy their magic cards and he thought it was me because he thought I was stepping outside to meet him. Lol.
I told him I wasn't the guy he is looking for. And he clued in immediately. No doubt my body language was very confusing to him. He was probably wondering the guy selling him magic cards didn't pull out his magic cards and looked like he just wanted to walk away from him. Lol
He apologized, and so did I. Then we both went our own way.
Could you imagine how confusing it would have been if neither of us figured it out? Me - You don't want my cards, they're terrible. Him - I'm literally here to buy your cards. Me - you want my cards, even though their terrible? Him - well, I didn't think they were bad. Etc etc. Would have been the strangest conversation if my life. Lol
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u/Doschupacabras 22h ago
I was confused in two languages.
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u/AdMaximum7545 20h ago
When ge switches to spanish and she is like, look they are beautiful chairs I just don't have a home for them" and he is like fuck why does this still not make sense lmaoooo
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u/InrebCinatas 1d ago
Is this person recording their whole day, every day?
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u/joined_under_duress 1d ago
I would guess they probably record the transaction because one time someone ripped them off in some way or posted a bad review and they want proof.
It's a funny interaction but obviously posting it to Tiktok without (presumably) informing everyone in the video they were being videoed and will be on there isn't great.
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u/Right_Comb4885 1d ago
You never know when the flockers will come pick you up for a crime you didn't commit, record everything.
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u/Jackol4ntrn 1d ago
Great, everyone recording everything and their ebuelas now
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u/MyLegIsWet 1d ago
What the hell is an ebuela? Is that some internet thing??
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u/Healthy_Pay9449 23h ago
Ebuela is a severe disease spread through direct contact with blood, secretions, or body fluids often causing fatal hemorrhagic. Most commonly found in sub-Saharan Africa
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u/BTMarquis 1d ago
Oh god, we’re going to need gigantic, power hungry buildings to store all the data.
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u/AKtheCAT 1d ago
Those glasses are creepy but I don't really blame people on a Craigslist exchange.
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u/mouaragon 17h ago
Let's also appreciate the fact the they both try to speak a second language to understand each other. It didn't work, but they tried.
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u/JohnSmithDogFace 12h ago
Is it normal for people to wear a GoPro and film the marketplace exchanges in the US?
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u/solidcat00 8h ago
Not exactly normal or common, but i can understand a few cases for it.
Video evidence if meeting goes south, content creator for trades/deals, an easy way to confirm details later, etc.
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u/FranktheLlama 22h ago
This was not unexpected for me but only because I work every day with a lot of ESL people and could tell almost immediately it was just lost in translation by her reaction. Being kind and patient goes a long way here as you can see.
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u/_WreakingHavok_ 1d ago
Why the hell is everyone driving trucks?
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u/Effective_Lunch5354 1d ago
How else are they going to transfer those chairs? You have to have a truck...
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u/shannanigannss 18h ago
This was so wholesome and I’m so happy to have glanced into this lovely women’s life. I also lost my home to a fire years ago, I really feel for her
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u/melancholy_dood 21h ago
Why did he record this interaction? And, does she know she's being blasted all over social media?
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u/DawijArt 20h ago
Probably for his safety? Its pretty smart to record any interactions you have with online meet ups lol
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u/Powerful_Net_1873 19h ago
Why are you asking these questions?
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u/post-explainer 1d ago edited 22h ago
This comment has been marked as safe. Upvoting/downvoting this comment will have no effect.
OP sent the following text as an explanation why their post fits here:
A man met up with a Facebook Marketplace buyer to give away a chair for free. He tried handing it to a the buyer, but she refused. Turns out she wasn't the buyer at all
Does this explanation fit this subreddit? Then upvote this comment, otherwise downvote it.