I'll be there. Hello Ethan. Bring some good stuff for me to buy. jk. -andy
Years ago there was an auction of an Internet Kiosk company in Newport News Virginia. I decided to go. It was well advertised and run by a big company (probably Rasmus but I don't remember.)
I get there. The crowd seemed to be a random bunch but it was well attended. Crowd was a mix of the flipper types, estate sales types maybe and a few geeks.
I run into some people I knew from the BBS scene in my childhood. They could be troublemakers, but they tended to be funny. You know the type. We had separated ways years before and ran in different geek circles, but here they were. Kind of good seeing them again, but also obvious not much had changed.
They were running a computer repair store, and purchased things like the filing cabinet full of customer records so they could market to them. They left test copies on all the copiers of ads for their adult website(s). I remember the auctioneer picking up the face down full coverage 8x11 paper ads in the output tray a little shocked on the mic "Looks like it works well..."
Well one guy bids on this maxwell house can of screws. The hex head things that hold on the covers to your standard beige PC and the smaller ones that hold in the CD-ROMs and floppies. But not the hard drives, those use the case sized ones.
Sold for $20 or whatever it was. I mean, it was pretty full but I thought it was a strange purchase.
Some loud lady proclaims "Who on earth would pay $20 for a can of screws?" Everyone is watching, Geoff just shrugs. Doesn't say anything.
She bids on this beige tower PC. Wins. Goes to pick it up and the cover slides right off. A lot of people see this. Kind of mortified she looks over at Geoff who is sitting on some furniture running his fingers through his $20 can of screws. He loudly says "Hey, I've got screws for sale a dollar each" once she looks over. Some are amused some confused. The auctioneer chuckles.
