[Kitsa]

You have to sort of be in battle mode, and to accept that the majority of the people who are worth messing with will show up long before your published start time anyhow.

There is one notable exception, and that's the asshole who comes along at the end of the day and offers to cart all of your goods away for free. He's usually skeevy and sly-looking, and he's usually driving a pickup truck. He's just looking to pick up stuff for flea market booths, and is willing to take a chance that you have some good stuff (or, at the very least, some recyclable metals) in your possession. He'll make it sound like he's doing you a huge favor by taking everything you have.

One time, I was cleaning up after a sale. I was alone in my garage and a hell of a lot more naive than I am now. I had my back to the street and didn't even hear him come in. He walked up RIGHT BEHIND ME and said that he'd take all my stuff off my hands for free. It happened that swindling me out of my goods was the most criminal intention he had, but it still scared the bejesus out of me. I won't make that mistake again.

I also had a woman argue with me over a hand-cast porcelain soup tureen, because she felt she could "just go to Goodwill and get one cheaper". I told her to hurry up because they closed at 5. I thought she was going to smash the tureen on the ground in front of me.