Most of us have Craigslist stories, right?

Some of us have gleefully bought rooms of furniture for a song, or have taken an expedition to an address that turned out didn’t exist in search of an object captured in a too good to be true photo, or, following a CL ad, was introduced to the roommate from hell.

For several weeks now, I have been seeing a personal trainer. Not for bulking up, my main goal is strengthening my core.  After being impressed by the example of my ever-cheerful twenty-something coach, I bought a collection of new, colorful and clingy, exercise pants.

I was given a simple daily regimen of exercises I could do at home in front of the TV.  The other night, I decided I needed a weight bench so I could practice squats, which I couldn’t seem to do from my living room couch.

Of course, I didn’t want to spend a lot of money, so I pulled up Craigslist on my ‘puter and started searching. I asked myself, What category would one be under?

Fitness, Exercise Equipment, Gym Equipment… Before long, I tried Weight Bench and saw that there were over 100 entries.

Many were for multi-function pieces of equipment and, even used, were priced just south of a grand.

I scanned through photos and descriptions.  Just when I was beginning to wonder if my hopes were unrealistic, my glance fixed on a photo of a simple bench with an adjustable angle back.  It was listed at $30.  Now, we’re talking, I thought.

I sent a quick email to the person who listed it.  He responded within 30 minutes.  I found out he lived only 15 minutes away and we agreed that if it could fit into Donatella Corolla (my Toyota sedan), I’d take it.  We worked out a time for me to come by the next day.

I couldn’t believe how EASY it was.

It was less than 14 hours between getting the idea to driving my new toy home.

I didn’t think about negotiating the price.

Yes, in some places, bargaining is part of shopping.

There were times in my life where I took great pleasure in talking my way into a bargain. Not from The Donald, I learned to appreciate The Art of the Deal from my father.

For past Craigslist purchases, I’d toss out teasers like Oh, you don’t want to move this to Atlanta… adding, I’ll take it off your hands. Then I’d offer a third less than the asking price, as if I’m doing the seller a favor.

Sometimes, I just liked the feeling that I had won at something, even though my savings on a coffee table or fan or whatever object I was bargaining for was not of much consequence.

I think there’s a strange cycle at work in this kind of transaction. The more you feel taken advantage by others, in any aspect of your life, the more you try to work things to your advantage in other situations.

Parents who beat their children were probably abused themselves when they were young.

People that feel cheated in business transactions often try to make up for their losses in totally unrelated dealings.

Here, I saw an ad for something I wanted.  It was advertised for a price that was within my budget.  When I emailed interest, I was responded to right away.  The owner lived in a location that was easy to get to and was amenable to me stopping by at a time that was convenient for me.

When I arrived, I was directed to a garage where other things were for sale.  I asked the man, who only identified himself as Mike, if he was moving, if he needed to unload things in a hurry.  He responded that he just moved in, but that he had more space in his old place and he had to downsize.

He used to live in a big house near the United Center, an iffier neighborhood.  I suspected that he was a young father and moved because his needs changed, but I didn’t ask.

He helped me slide the bench in the backseat of my car.  I dug out a twenty and two fives from my  purse.  I made no objections to the price, no counteroffers.

He wasn’t destitute or anything, but he had just moved.  I’m sure he had a lot of recent expenses.  Maybe I could have seen if he would have taken $25, but for what?

I was happy with how easy my acquisition was, but I was also pleased with myself.  I didn’t confuse efforts to drive down the price on a piece of exercise equipment with some other situation where I wanted to prevail as if over an opponent. Winning doesn’t have to come with someone else losing.

Being all right with paying retail is no small thing.