The Most Ridiculous Thing Ever

Let me tell you a story that is so absurd that I genuinely don’t know whether to laugh at how ridiculous this is or be absolutely furious…I guess I’m choosing to laugh because there’s no other decent way to respond. In one of the social media groups I follow I noticed a guy (with whom I have a few mutual acquaintances) had posted that he had some laser tag packs for sale. I told him I was interested, gave him my email and asked what he had and what price he was asking. He’s got a couple of Q-Zar packs and a couple of modified Zone packs (I know what he means by modified because based on the description I have played at the site where they came from). He emails me, not answering my question about price, but instead asking me if I’ve ever purchased laser tag equipment before and do I know how to tech packs. That’s weird, is this guy vetting me?

I told him I have four packs from other systems, but never tried to tech them because I only have one of each and they were only ever intended for my collection, however I have friends with Q-Zar packs and access to help with the Zone packs, but would like to know if they are functional and what price point he’s asking. His reply is that “if you can’t maintain them I can’t in good conscience sell them to you. Once this stuff is gone, it’s gone forever. Sorry.”

Excuse me?!!! This guy has apparently just deemed me UNFIT to purchase his USED LASER TAG equipment! I am dumbfounded by that. Reminds me of an episode of Friends where Chandler sarcastically quips "apparently not everyone is qualified to own wood and nails."

You know, I don’t have to prove that I can maintain the equipment because if I buy something it’s really nobody’s business what I do with it. However, the fact of the matter is that I do have friends with more than ample ability to keep any equipment going and just minutes after reading that email I got on my phone and repeated the whole story to one such friend, the current owner of Laser Storm (not a local arena…the actual company), and we had a real SMH moment about it. If you think I don’t have the connections to keep some laser tag equipment functioning all I can say is never assume. And please don’t think I have to justify this to you either. But as long as I’m down this road already, maybe one of these guys could vouch for me…