It's funny how things happen in life. If someone had told me a year ago that I'd be selling my panties to strangers, I probably would have laughed or blushed, or maybe both. But now I realize that stranger things have happened.
It started innocently enough. I'd been selling some odds and ends on a popular online auction site, which brought in some extra money and was a fun way to clear out stuff I'd accumulated but no longer wanted. The old saying "one person's junk is another's treasure" is definitely true.
I had a friend across the country who was also selling things online, and we'd exchange emails about our auction triumphs and failures, and brainstorm ideas for items we could find at low cost that would sell well. We often shared a laugh by sending links to each other for bizarre items that we'd found up for sale. One day she sent me a link to the auction site's Wanted Board, where someone had posted this message:
"LADIES I WANT YOUR PANTIES! IMPORTANT DON'T WASH THEM AFTER WEARING!!"
My friend added, "Ewwwww can you believe that? How creepy!!" I'd known a few panty fetishists and I'd also chatted online for many years in adult areas, so I knew it wasn't all that uncommon, and I responded to my friend telling her so. I added, "I've actually thought about it, but it'd just be too weird to actually do it!"
I watched the Wanted Board for awhile after that, not surprised by the various nasty comments from uptight old biddies about the "perverted creep" and so forth, as well as the do-gooders who felt it their duty to inform everyone that the auction site only allowed used clothing sales of laundered items.
It was all amusing to me, but I didn't give it much thought until a few weeks later when I'd more or less lost my job. I'd been doing free-lance work and my top two clients had gotten caught in the "dot-com downfall" - one folded completely and the other had massive budget cuts which unfortunately included my services. My income was suddenly about 80% short of what it had been.
Finding work turned out to be difficult. I'd been getting a good rate for ongoing work and even though I had excellent references and highly-praised work to show, I wasn't able to find more than a few one-off jobs to tide me over from week to week. As I continued looking for work, I dug deeper into my closets to see what else I could sell online. I monitored the auction site's Wanted Board daily to see if anyone was looking for something I might have but hadn't considered sellable. I actually got lucky a few times that way, but it only brought in a few dollars.
Then one day the guy looking for used panties posted again, and I responded. I wrote and rewrote my email to him a dozen times or more, and my finger hovered over the "Send Email" button for a good ten minutes before I finally said "What the hell?" and sent it off. I wasn't sure if I'd get a response at all, or how I'd respond if I did, but I'd gotten two Second Notice bills that day and I'd had to charge my groceries the night before, I was so low on cash. I was desperate.