Man sells entire contents of home on eBay just to get ‘positive feedback’
An Isle of Wight man became so addicted to getting positive feedback on eBay that he auctioned off all of his possessions and those of his wife and family.
‘I realize now that I have a rare but disastrous psychological condition’ admitted Arthur Stoles of Shanklin. ‘Low self esteem, a lack of praise when I was a child, plus a deep seated need to win the approval of strangers has led me to sell off everything I owned,’ said the eBay praise addict.
‘Every time someone posted something nice about me on buyer feedback I got goosebumps. I spent years of my life selling and carefully wrapping all my belongings, and courteously answering email queries. I got a real flood of love vibes when someone ticked the ‘positive’ box when they received the item so promptly.’
But Arthur’s efforts to win 100% approval did not go down so well with his wife, Gloria, who complained about the lack of furniture and crockery and ‘well, everything, really’ in their empty Isle of Wight home. His children too became increasingly angry that their presents disappeared a week or so after Christmas and birthdays. ‘The more hostile my family became with me, the more I sought the approval of my ‘true friends’ in the eBay community.’
Once he had run out of possessions to sell, Arthur began to create multiple eBay accounts, selling invented items to himself and then giving himself glowing comments. ‘He really was a complete fucking nutcase’ said the psychiatrist who was assigned to deal with Mr Stole’s rare condition. ‘His distressed wife actually came to me with a possible solution…’ said the mental health counsellor who prefers to remain anonymous. ‘That we could get him addicted to positive buyer ratings so that he could get all the stuff back and fill the house up once again. I had to explain that it wasn’t as simple as that, that his condition was complex and deep seated, and anyway, I had just bought the house off him for three hundred quid, and a promise of some really positive feedback.’
wrinkled weasel
Posted: Feb 27th, 2008 by NewsBiscuit
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