Freecycling

I belong to this web "group" called Freecyclers. It's based off that old addage "One man's junk is another man's treasure". It also serves to recycle as much as possible, instead of just throwing away what you don't need or want anymore, since the issue of recycle, reduce, re-use is all the rage, and rightly so. I'm definitely not opposed to the concept of this site. It totally serves to help those people who may not be able to go out and buy the things they need. . .

The key word in that last sentence being "need". Not want. With this, like most things in my life that involve people (i.e. my job, life in general) I find the "want" part irritating.

So, the general rules of this site are that you are supposed to offer something, supposedly of modest value, before you start listing the things you would like to have.

The part of this that irritates me is that people, like with everything else that allows them to obtain things for free, get greedy with it. The email that sparked this blog went something along the lines of: "We are still looking for twin beds, bunk beds, washer/dryer, refrigerator, end tables, dvd players, entertainment centers...etc." Which basically means that the person or people who posted this email decided to have the whole rest of the Freecycle group outfit their entire house. I mean, really. It's one thing to inquire about taking something off another person's hands, especially if it's sitting collecting dust, and put it to good use. However, this email said "We are STILL..." as in, "this isn't the first time we have asked the freecycle community for these things, yet no one has come through and given us a fully outfitted house, yet!?!" It's so demanding, as if to remind the rest of the group that they are entitled to more than the bare necessities. Which they aren't. And obviously, if no one has offered to let these people have any of these items, it means that no one has them to give. So maybe you should stop demanding. It is completely possible to word these requests so that they sound grateful and hopeful, rather than rude and entitled. These people have yet to learn the art of tact, apparently.

The only other emails like this that really irkitate me more are the ones who get all kinds of picky about what they're looking for. For instance, I read an email requesting baby items, specifiying that these items are for a baby girl. The asker mentioned a certain brand of clothes she liked. They were not an inexpensive brand, by any means, either. Which made me think that maybe beggars really can be choosers. But then again, she never posted a "RECEIVED" email, so maybe everyone just ignored her.