REA Clock?

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Posted By: Robert Lifson

When I sent the courier service to Barry’s house with his auction winnings on Sunday night, there is a part of the story that made the whole thing a lot funnier to me: When I gave the package to the messenger service, I told them to be sure not to call ahead, to just show up at Barry’s place with the package unannounced, that it was sort of a joke and that Barry would be surprised. When the messenger got there around 9:30 (and I think Barry will agree that even though the courier was a professional, he looked like he lived in his delivery van), he was naturally knocking on the door and ringing the bell to deliver the package. I wasn’t expecting to hear from the courier service at all, but around 9:40 their central office called me to tell me that Barry (who had no idea what was going on) appeared to be really annoyed that someone was knocking and ringing his bell, and that he opened his window and yelled at the courier something like "Get otta here! Scram! Stop ringing my bell" and things like that onto the street to get rid of the guy. In Brooklyn – in retrospect, maybe anywhere - when someone rings your bell at 9:30 at night that you are not expecting and don’t know it is very unwelcome. They didn’t know what to do. I thought this all sounded really funny, but I was also naturally concerned (I just didn’t think of this potential problem), and told them to go ahead and call Barry on the phone and tell him that it was a special delivery from Robert Edward Auctions. They called back a few minutes later and told me that he had the package and had signed for it but they were very concerned that he did not find my joke - an unannounced delivery - very funny, and they were hoping he would be more amused after he opened the package. Maybe it’s just me, but the image of Barry opening his window on Sunday night and shouting out onto the street for the delivery guy, who is trying to deliver his auction lots, to stop ringing his bell and to get lost struck me as very funny and classic. I don’t know if it happened exactly like they told me from Barry’s perspective, but that’s what I was told, and it really was like a Seinfeld moment. I had to share this with the board. Thanks for being a good sport, Barry!