I was unloading groceries in the driveway the other day when the neighbor across the street yelled me down. He’d seen the Obama sign in my front yard and wondered if I’d have any interest in taking a look at the t-shirts he was selling out of the back of his car. I’ve always been a sucker for a t-shirt sold out of the back of a car, so I walked over to see his goods.
Vance, the neighbor, had a big old duffel bag full of shirts. Eight different designs. All looking like they were produced using images downloaded from the Web. I get scammed a couple hundred times a day via e-mail and through bogus blog posts, but it was almost refreshing to get scammed in the flesh.
Vance walked me through each style, standing silently by as I held up each one for inspection.
“How much?”
“Thirteen,” Vance says. Just “thirteen,” like we had to keep our communication on the matter short and to the point, just in case.
“So,” I say, gently, “how much of that goes to the campaign?”
“Oh, I already took care of that. I sent $400 out to New York to get these shirts.” It was then I realized two things: The Obama campaign wasn’t going to see a dime of the proceeds from these shirts, and I was going to purchase one.
Vance doesn’t have a bank account, and I don’t carry cash, so he had to wait a couple days before getting his money. For my part, I’m thrilled with the shirt. I only hope Vance makes his money back.
