I use Freecycle because I’m a) a dirty hippie, and b) extremely lazy. In case you don’t know, Freecycle connects people who have stuff to give away, and people who want free crap. I’ve picked up a few things off Freecycle, like an old entertainment center, and I’ve given stuff away on Freecycle, like the very same entertainment center. It’s good for finding all kinds of stuff, if you’re patient enough. It’s also good for getting rid of crap. Most of the time I just put it on my porch, and it’s gone by the time I get home from work. That’s service I can live with.
Mrs. ACW and I just cleaned out our attic, and we found a whole bunch of stuff we don’t want anymore. We gave the big stuff away on Freecycle (and I plan on giving the little stuff away to you; the pasty-skinned, friendless denizens of the worldwide information super-tubeterwebs. More on that later, back to our story.) But on Sunday I got a series of email messages that progressed from awkward to creepy. I’ve reproduced the email exchange below, with the Creep’s emails in italics. I removed any identifying information, but kept all spelling, grammar, and syntax intact.
Do you still have the [item I was giving away] alvaible? If you do please tell me where you live at so I can come pick it up ok.
Do you still have the [another item I was giving away]. if you tell me where you live at so I can come pick it up ok.
I’m in Glen Burnie near [major road]. You can have both the [items] if you want to pick them up at the same time. When would you like to pick them up?
tomorrow ok, can you meet me somewhere with them
Okay. Where, and what time? I can’t meet after 2.
how about at 4pm at my house is that good for you. I live in Glen Burnie also. Give me your phone number so I can call you and give you directions on how to get here ok.
I’d rather not give you my phone number. Can you email me directions?
Do you know where the Mva is because I live across the street from the mva ok. My address is [redacted] Glen burnie md 21061. You can mapquest for directions ok. Can you come tonight or not.
Yes, I can drop off tonight.
Can you call me at [phone number] to let me know what time you are comming.
can you leave it outside my door and do not knock on my door ok.
Sorry, my wife doesn’t want to get rid of this stuff after all. Sorry for any trouble.
Ask her why she doesn’t want to get rid of it.
It was at this point that I blocked the address and forwarded the exchange to the Freecycle moderator. In the meantime I had been checking the address against the Maryland Sex Offender Registry, doing a reverse look-up on the phone number, and Googling the email address. And turned up basically nothing.
I wasn’t too keen on dropping off the stuff at the house, but my brother was on his way over my house to play video games, and I figured he could take the ride with me. But once I got that “don’t knock” message I was done with the whole thing. I made up the “my wife” thing as an excuse to end the exchange. As you can see, it didn’t exactly work.
I deal with people on the internet all the time, and for the most part, it’s polite. Sometimes, particularly with Freecycle, I’ll get messages along the lines of “u want me 2 pickup on 2day???????” which are annoying, but at least kind of normal. I’ve never had an interaction like the one above.
The funniest thing is that my first thoughts were, “Wow. Women probably have to deal with this shit on the internet all the time.” I can’t imagine that any woman (and some men for that matter) that has used a dating site hasn’t gotten a message like this. And I’m sure lots of those pervs forgo messages altogether and use a candid picture of their dong to do the talking instead. I’m certainly glad that I didn’t have to deal with anything like that, and I’m also glad that I don’t have to deal with this on a regular basis. I think I’m done with Freecycle, though.
So what the crap? Am I being overly cautious? Did you get a creepy vibe at all? Is this person just extremely socially retarded?
I don’t know if it’s just because I got a similar creepy vibe from someone who was selling a Honda Civic on Craigslist, but yeah, dude’s creepy.
My basic feeling is, if someone’s creepy, screw ‘em. There are plenty of non-creepy people out there who you can deal with.
The guy I was talking to claimed to be a Marine and have a suspiciously nice car at a suspiciously low price, and he was willing to ship it from Illinois for free (claiming he could use government services)… he then said something about eBay Payment Protection, which was highly suspicious since it was on Craigslist.
I eventually told him that I wasn’t interested in a car I couldn’t see or test drive, and his listing got pulled, and I told my psycho Army friend about it in hopes that he could track the guy down and have him severely beaten.
Long -> Short: no, you were right to bail on this weirdo.
Not creepy, but certainly too stupid to deserve free crap.
creepy AND too stupid to deserve free crap.
With the not-knocking and the give-me-your-numbers and the please-come-overs, I get a mental image of someone in his birthday suit, crouched behind the door, taking pictures of you with his covert surveillance camera so he can photoshop the pictures of you dropping off your crap into pictures of him having his way with you as you wear a suit made out of Twinkies and HoHos. Very icky. And what’s with the “ok” every other sentence?
I figured he was just annoyingly lazy until the “No Knock” policy.
At that point, I expect it wasn’t his house and he was wanting you to drop off some junk at someone else’s house as a prank.
I find it interesting that both CBC and I didn’t feel it was creepy. Maybe that’s why the rest of the world is put off by Cleveland when we can’t see anything wrong with it. Off course our version of Freecycle involves putting your stuff on the treelawn and waiting for someone to stop and pick it up.
c’mon acw, why are you treating me liek this ok?
I swear to god it sounds like someone who’s been playing too much Kingdom Hearts for PS2.
And yes, ACW, way creepy.
that is weird.
also, i have seen some #$%#ing weird notes on dating sites etc… it’s SO easy to get pictures of peens that my friend saved them and made a collage.
I once had an online friend fly out from the west coast on Valentines day weekend, thinking It was some grand romantic gesture. It wasn’t. It was annoying, because it was a “surprise” and I had no time to prepare at all. When I politely told him that we were never going to be more then just friends he started to cry and say that he had spent all this money on the flight and I should at least love him for that.
I still met my current husband on the internet. It didn’t scare me away from that. It was still weird, ,though.
I got a weird vibe from his first email message… I probably would have stopped emailing him/her/it after that first grammatical barf-fest and skeezy “Tell me where I can find your carcasses… er, address, so I can come pick up ok.”
But I’m definitely glad you went as far as you did so you could share said sketchiness with us.
Creeeeky indeed.
I always offer to meet the person at a public location and never ever give out my address. m’kay.
It was the no-knocking part that made it creepy. Very.
Hey there, nothing wrong with being a bit cautious, whether you’re male or female. My philosophy is, “Go sell crazy someplace else, we’re all stocked up here.” Plenty of normal or normal-ish folks out there to FreeCycle with.
Your post inspired me to join my local FC group!
Thanks for the info!
PS: It could have been creepier (e.g., the grand inquisitor could have asked how big your unit was, a la the way guys online see nothing wrong with “wooing” women with the time-honored pick up line, “So, how big are your tits?”
Yeah, I’ve been lurking on Freecycle for a long time, and I’m just about finished with it. People are weird and creepy on that group. Plus you try to get people to take your crap, and usually that’s a bigger hassle than just dumping the stuff or taking it to Goodwill.
It’s people like this weirdo that make me never want to freecycle stuff. Who’d want this guy showing up on your front door?? No thank you — he’s definitely creepy. Either that or he was trying to get you to dump a bunch of crap on someone else’s front porch as a prank. Bleh. Bunch of freaks — go with Sally’s suggestion and take the stuff to Goodwill. Or if you don’t want to come into the city, dump it off at the Value Village on Richie Highway. It’s on the left side before the turnoff for the Brooklyn Park post office.
I like to use the adjectives poignant or reflective, as opposed to candid.
Man, that IS creepy. The guy can’t meet after 2? He doesn’t want to give out his phone number?? And then his wife changes her mind about giving away the stuff??? I wouldn’t deal with a nutcase like that.
Um, yeah, creepy, anyone want a 23″ relay rack? It’s for computer dorks. Yes, computer dorks like me.
Um, thanks.
Don’t knock.
Creepy - hell yes.
I know that I am not the most grammatically correct person around, but why is it that people think that it is OK to shortcut the rules of writing that we were taught in school when on the computer? The guy was either 14 years old or a complete dillhole - your choice.
Freecycle = good. Lazy freak = bad. If people can’t come to me to get the stuff I put on Freecycle, too bad for them. I only deliver if I forget to leave it out for them to pick up.
I’ve given away TONS of stuff on Freecycle, and all my interactions have been very civil and non-creepy. You may have just hit the far end of the bell curve on this one.
There may be a valid reason to not knock… if that person is the parent of a young child (or caring for an older relative) they may not wish that child’s nap disturbed, and may not be able to pick it up due to said nap. There’s always a reason - sometimes creepy, sometimes not.
Happy Freecycling, ACW.
That’s really creepy. I think you did the right thing ACW.
Everything I give away on freecyle gets left outside and I ask people (who don’t just offer themselves) to leave things for me to pick-up outside. The less interaction I have with them the better. There are some intensely weird people on there.
I think this is just a dork with no social skills. He doesn’t understand that asking people for their personal info might make them think he’s a serial killer.
And the knocking thing is probably because he’s got a coven of his D&Ds meeting and can’t break out of character then.
And yeah, I don’t drop off stuff for other people on Freecycle that I am giving away. It’s free, people!
Sounds like a Creepzilla. He probably has people dropping freecycle stuff off at his ex’s house every day of the week. Harrassment without any effort on his part.
Maybe it’s someone who is not so up on the English speaking.
Yeah. That was me. Sorry about that.
So. Can I have your shit or what?
Send me an address and I’ll send what I can find out about the dude.
the guy sounds like a fucktard nigerian scammer. You did right.
i was into freecycle for a while, but i think that this might be a better option: http://www.freestorebaltimore.org/
it’s like the Book Thing, but with stuff. give stuff, take stuff, for free. i know goodwill isn’t terrible, but it’s still a business. i like the free exchange idea behind both the Book Thing and Free Store. check it out.
and i totally agree: no droppy-offie without the knocky. that’s weird.
-elizabeth, relatively new ACW reader in baltimore
Yep, a little creepy and most likely a social retard.
As for what women have to put up with: multiply this creepiness by about 1,000 and you’ll have a pretty good head start. I stopped giving out my last name a long time ago. And when I first got on myspace, I was amazed at how many dudes would send me messages like, “give me your number so we can chat”—because I make such a habit of giving out my number to men that I’ve never met. And you were right, a lot of guys don’t hesitate to send unsolicited photos of their dongs.
I say you did the right thing and aren’t being overly cautious. I think it’s hilarious you started checking the addy with a sex offender database! That sounds like something I would do. I don’t know that you should give up on the site because of one creepazoid tho. :)
Elizabeth- Welcome!