It's not what it looks like, Officer

I didn't rob anyone, but I kind of wonder if the Monroe police would have arrested me if they had pulled me over as I drove back from the ATM with a nervous girl and a fistful of cash.  But I swear, I wasn't doing anything illegal.

We have been trying to sell our appliances for the past week or so before we move to DC.  So, when we got an email from a girl in Athens about our craigslist ad saying that she would like to buy our washer and dryer, we were excited.  We made arrangements for her to come pick them up and pay.  She showed up with a U-Haul truck today, and I helped her load them up.  Then she wrote us a personal check...

Now, as you know, the primary rule of craigslist is to deal in cash and in person, but I looked at this girl, and I had a good feeling about her.  She told me that she was from Nebraska and that she was getting her PhD in Music from UGA.  She gave me her address and phone number, and I had the license plate of the U-Haul truck if I needed to track her down, so I was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt.

Lisa, however, was not.

She came out of the house - in her pajamas - and told the girl that she would really rather get some cash from her now.  To which the girl said, with surprise, "Sure, but I don't have any cash on me."  Without batting an eyelash, Lisa responded that there was an ATM from her bank on the main street in Monroe, tossed me my keys, and said "Chris will drive you there to get at least half of the money in cash - or as much as the ATM will let you take out. We can take the rest by check."

So, I made the long drive to downtown Monroe - about 10 minutes - with a girl who was clearly uncomfortable, and pulled up to the ATM where she could withdraw cash for me.  A lot of cash.

When we got there, she remembered her personal safety protocols.  Don't wait outside of your car at a walk up ATM - check.  Hold the cash that you withdraw in your hand so that no one can tell how much you got - check.  Don't get in a car with a complete stranger by yourself? oops.  Still, she must have gotten a good feeling about me too, because as soon as she sat back down in my car, she pulled the cash out and began to count it out in piles of $100 on my dashboard.

We kept it upbeat on the ride home and talked football (after all, it was Superbowl Sunday), but it was still a little surreal.  In the end, it worked out for everyone.  We got our money without having to worry about a bounced check, and she got almost new appliances for a great deal. Still, I couldn't help but feel a little like one of those criminals that kidnaps people and drives them to an ATM to empty their account.  So I learned a valuable lesson by all this:  Never tell your wife what you're doing until it's over.