Well I just got home from a long and painful trip. It all has to do with some of the liars who work for the Knox County in Tennessee.

I bid on and won an auction online for 3 skids full of computers, monitors, keyboards, etc., etc. I would have liked to have bid on the same stuff from a more local seller, but I figured for the number of units I would obtain, that the cost of picking them up over 300 miles from my home would only add a small cost to each computer (I intended to resell them).

According to their own special instructions, no appointment was necessary to pick up the items and that one could show up anytime between 8am and 4pm, Monday through Friday excluding legal holidays. Now I know yesterday was Thanksgiving, which is a legal holiday, but I have never heard of the day after Thanksgiving being one. Even their county website has a calendar showing nothing remarkable about Nov 24th.

I showed up in Knoxsville at their building at 1:30pm after driving 6 hours. The entire facility was locked up! I went out and found a pay phone and called a few contacts they listed, but got no answers - just voicemail. I even waited for 2 1/2 hours until closing time to see if anyone would show up. They left their gate open and unlocked. I even asked one of the firemen who was next door at the firehouse if he knew why it was closed, when they would return, or if any live humans even inhabited the place and he didn't know anything.

So, to make a long story short, I wasted my entire Friday driving 611 miles and spending $80 on gas only to return home empty handed. Because I believed their instructions, I bid on an item that I would otherwise not have the time to pick up so far away and transport because of my own schedule.

At least I picked up a 12 pack that I am now enjoying back at home far away from Knox County.