More than a year ago, when we were packing up Dilston before moving into Longford, we realised we were going to have one lounge chair too many for the new unit. We were taking an old, leather 3-piece suite with us and had ordered, from Harvey Norman, a new recliner chair for Marilyn and a matching 2-seater. I was happy to designate one of the old chairs as mine but there was really no room in the unit for the second one. It was pretty shabby, anyway, and had a couple of unsightly marks on the head rest.
Marilyn asked Francis, the fellow who was buying the house, if he had a use for it and he was delighted to take it off our hands, for no charge. He said he had no furniture and he would be happy to have at least one chair to sit on.
This week, Jamie was browsing the local marketplace site on the internet and found the same chair being offered for sale for $50. What a cheek! He was tempted to send Francis our bank details so he could deposit our share of the proceeds.
Francis, of course, is a filipino and it seems to be a characteristic of people from the Philippines that they are always on the look out for ways to make a profit. They are great entrepreneurs and buying and selling is in their blood. Nera’s female friends all have a sideline: making and icing cakes, preparing specialty food, sewing, etc. Even Nera, until she became too busy, had a sideline in buying and selling pot plants.
We’re the mugs. When
we found we had a surplus chair, we should have advertised it on Buy, Swap and
Sell and waited for someone to make an offer, providing us with a few dollars
to help with moving expenses. Giving it
away made no commercial sense and the good feeling we had in doing a good deed
was just an indulgence.
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