Dangerous Logic

His Other Auction Features A Set Of Janitor's Keys From Treblinka

I can't even come up with the words to describe what a schmuck this guy is:

The eBay seller who triggered an outcry by posting a "9/11" firefighter helmet for sale for $10,000 admitted Tuesday that the helmet is his own, and claims the auction was a joke.

The seller originally wrote that he is a firefighter who volunteered at Ground Zero and that he found the helmet near the site. He also wrote that he needed to sell the helmet to pay for college. However, after an onslaught of negative feedback, he told Firehouse.com, "It was all a huge joke."

Not only is he a schmuck, he's a stupid schmuck:

Joke or no joke, the auction appears to have brought the seller more publicity than he intended, and it didn't take long for his former rescue squad in Virginia to identify the purported "9/11" helmet as one of their own.

After seeing the photos posted online Monday, Purcellville Volunteer Rescue Squad Vice President Tommy Harrison told Firehouse.com, "We're 99 percent sure it's ours. We had no idea about this sale, and we'd actually like our helmet back."

. . .

Harrison noted Monday that it was an interesting coincidence that PVRS wears similar yellow helmets and is called Company 14, and that the yellow helmet for sale has the number 14 on it, although the sticker for the 1 had been removed.

Not only is he a stupid schmuck, he's a clueless stupid schmuck:

The seller said he said he is not currently affiliated with any fire or rescue service. At times during the interview, he asked where else the story would appear and didn't apologize for the anger that was provoked by the auction.

On Monday night, a forum user who identified himself as a 'friend' of the seller told the same story about the "bet" relayed by the seller himself the next day. During that exchange, the poster bragged about the publicity generated and attempted to engage users with profanity-riddled exchanges.

. . .

The seller had also added a note to the listing that read, "This eBay auction will be featured in Firehouse magazine!! How about that for publicity!! Thanks guys!! This could quite possibly be the most controversial item sold on eBay."

Firehouse.com quickly requested the seller remove the statement, and received a profane e-mail. However, the 'publicity' comments were removed by the seller shortly before the entire auction was removed by eBay.

I'm at a loss for words here. Can you folks help me out?

Posted by Chris at March 25, 2005 05:33 PM

Category: General Weirdness