Broaden your horizons....

If you're like me, you probably have a small circle of friends and family with which to draw your impressions of civilization (other than the samplings you see on the news or reality TV). If you have a hankering to meet a larger representation of society - I heartily recommend you sign up and do some business on eBay. You'll meet all kinds of folks.

One the one hand, you'll meet people who are an absolute joy to deal with - who communicate well, do business with a level head and are truly grounded in this reality.

On the other hand, you'll meet folks who cannot comprehend why it costs more to ship from Alberta to Montana (300km away) via Canada Post than it does to ship from LA to NY using USPS. Although these same folks will not hesitate to ask $35 shipping for shoes (which compared to the postage clearly marked on the container actually cost $15). You'll meet those who will buy an item from you with the new clothing tags still physically attached to the item, then trash you with bad feedback, claiming that you sold them used goods. You'll discover people who must be using faulty computers without a scroll bar on the right side of their screen. I base that theory on the fact that folks will ask you questions about an item that are clearly answered (further down the page) in the description. Then there are those who are so flummoxed by the thought of buying something listed with a different currency, that they'll limit themselves to only doing business with those from their own country - even though PayPal easily does the currency conversion for them. You'll happen upon sellers who don't see why photographing their item for sale on an unmade bed, a dirty floor or against a mold-infused bathroom tile wall is a bad idea. And finally, you'll meet eBayers who sit by their computers, logged into eBay 18 hours a day, who wait until the last hour of an auction to ask questions about shipping - then get all upset that you didn't answer their question before the auction ended. Or they freak because you didn't send them an invoice within 30 milliseconds of their winning the item (we have lives you know).