My mom and dad split up when I was a kid. Instead of growing up without a male role model, I developed a strong liking to Al Bundy. While he probably wasn't the best hero a kid could have, he did teach me to never get married, appreciate strippers, and always fear redheads.

And it's moments like these that make me realize I watch way too much TV.

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I recently decided it's time to sell a car. It's foolish for one individual to have two cars (can't drive 'em both at the same time) and my CRX is getting hella up there in years. Mind you, I don't really want to sell a car--but it's the logical thing to do (that and The Girlfriend keeps complaining about not having anywhere to park whenever she visits). A few weeks ago I posted an ad in craigslist and felt I started the selling process. While I still haven't posted For Sale signs on the car and am probably asking too much, at least I can feel like I'm making an effort to sell the car (or enough of an effort to appease The Girlfriend). Of course, I haven't gotten any calls over the past three weeks (except for the occasional email offering to buy my car at full value as long as I send them my name, address, social security number, bank account, and mother's maiden name). But I didn't really care. I've been too busy with life to focus attention on selling a car I really didn't wanna part with yet.

Yesterday I get a call from someone wanting to look at the car the call caught me off-guard: I forgot I was even selling the car). He asked a few questions and came by to look at the vehicle. After a test drive, he asked me how much I was asking for it.

"Three thousand," I said. "Just like it says in the ad."

Three thousand dollars might be a tad bit high for that car--but I have seen a handful of cars going for higher. According to blue book value, the car is worth $1700--but that Kelley Blue Book is a load of crap. Cars in SoCal always are sold for much, much higher. The car I bough in September was about 40 per cent above the "blue book value" and I know I got a great deal. I've always felt the best way to determine a car's value is see what others are selling it for. My car was selling for $2500-2800 and since I was in no rush to sell, I was gonna ask for $3000.

"I'll offer you $2000," he said.

We tried haggling, but there simply was no middle ground: 3000 to 2000 is 33 per cent off. That's like going to a car dealership and offering $10,000 for a car with a sticker price of $15,000. He said that he looked at other cars today that were cheaper (like I care what someone is selling their Geo Metro for: I have an all mighty Honda). He even pointed out that his offer was higher than blue book--but I didn't care. Maybe if I was desperate to sell the car, I'd take that. Maybe in three months when I get tired of dealing with it, I'll take $2000. But today the ad said $3000 and I wasn't gonna see it for significantly less than that. I know I'm asking a lot and being a tad bit unreasonable, but I'm in no rush to sell. He can meet my price or walk.

But the part that really gets my panties in a bunch is that he had the gall to offer me 67 per cent of my asking price. If you ask me, that's unreasonable. My price is clearly stated on the ad. If he finds it too high, his shouldn'tve wasted both our time to come out and look at it. I know there's always haggling and negotiating when it comes to car buying (yet another reason for the higher asking price: I'm prepared to come down to 28--maybe even 27--but if I ask that much, people are gonna offer me $2400), but for him to expect me to drop my asking price to 33 per cent is just plain unreal. Three thousand to two thousand is not a typical haggle. I'm really annoyed that he asked...and wasted my time.

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