Being a police officer has made JD very untrusting. I mean, I guess that’s what happens when you see the worst of humanity on a daily basis, but I’m still in the “people are inherently good” camp, so we make an interesting team. The cynic vs. the faithful.
This weekend, we started moving some furniture around so we could start setting up the nursery. This basically means that JD is sacrificing his “man room” so that it can become the guest room/office and the former guest room/office is becoming the nursery (wives can be so demanding). Anyway, the previous owners had left a hideous entertainment unit in what was formerly the man room. We had never bothered to get rid of it- JD was using it as storage for bike parts and such. Now, we need as much space as we can get, so it was (finally) time for the entertainment unit to go.
“I’ll just post it on Craigslist and say it’s free as long as someone can come pick it up,” I said.
Officer JD did not like this idea.
“People use Craigslist to case houses,” he insisted. “I see stuff like this all the time at work.”
While I knew he was probably right, I also knew that not everyone using Craigslist is using it for evil. Some people genuinely can’t afford decent furniture and stuff, so I saw it as a mutually beneficial opportunity. We didn’t have a vehicle large enough to take the entertainment unit to the dump (plus, preggers shouldn’t really be lifting heavy things), and the city would charge us to take it away if we left it at the curb.
“What if we put it on the porch, that way no one would have to come in the house?” I asked.
He agreed, although he still didn’t seem thrilled with the idea, and made sure I didn’t put our address in the actual posting. Anyone interested would have to email me first for the address. I was actually planning to do this anyway, but still wasn’t really sure how posting our address with no information that identified us personally would be beneficial to a Craigslist thief, since the posting clearly stated that the unit was on the porch and whoever was interested didn’t even have to ring the bell- “Just come by and take it!”
After he moved it to the porch, I took measurements and snapped a picture. Within an hour of creating the posting, I had my first response. The woman was clearly desperate, and said she would drive from an hour and half away to pick it up that same night. It is for this exact reason that I wanted to be able to post it. It seemed like a waste to send it to the dump, when there was someone out there who needed it.
She and her husband came as promised, and quietly removed it from the porch. Officer JD peeked out the window and took their license plate number, “just in case.” I had to laugh a bit, but I do appreciate his protectiveness.
This morning, I came into another email from her that read, “Thank you very much for your help. God bless you and your family.” And that’s how I know we made the right decision.
In other news, part of the reason I liked the idea of just putting it on the porch is that the dogs can be such a hassle when people stop by. I even responded to the woman to warn her that our dogs would probably go crazy when they heard someone on the porch. These are dogs who bark at squirrels, doorbells on TV, our own neighbors in the cul-de-sac, or a leaf idly blowing through the yard. Apparently, they do not bark at strangers walking up to our porch, seemingly uninvited. Even Harrier, who has snapped at our own friends, sat quietly with his ears perked up- not a peep out of him.
JD and I both just looked at each other, dumbfounded. Our only guess is that they were SO quiet when they picked up the unit that the dogs heard something, but weren’t quite sure what it was. We never heard voices; all we heard was a bit of sliding when they moved it around before carrying it off. Still, if the dogs are going to be loud and annoying over irrelevant things, I’d like to think that they’ll also be loud and annoying when we have a genuine security concern.
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