The Free Fail.

I first posted my ad on July 14th. Ads stay "active" on CL for 7 days, and then they expire.

Free dog runner in this hard economy? The replies will come pouring in!

...Any day now...
Each day I'd check the puprunnersf folder of my gmail. Nothing. I'd hit refresh. Stare. Sigh. My anxious excitement turned to a dreary dismay as my ad fell farther and farther from the top of the list.

Then one day. It happened. New emails! SPAM EMAILS!?! Ugh. I did however learn there are free grants available to all US citizens (thanks Marguarita), I can earn $2,000/week by working from home (by golly Ricky, I DO want to "Explode My Income"), but I am going to pass on those 25 (count 'em) positions from "Online Corporations" hiring "people in California" Amy, thanks for thinking of me though.

I had even posted the link to my ad on Facebook. And still nothing (save a few laughs and inquires to if it was for real from friends).
Then an email, with a normal subject line, and a picture of a very handsome German Shepard (possible mix) attached. My first REAL reply.

I am excited. I forward it to a few friends with my excitement, albeit with a little reservation: "Whoo Hoo! This one looks legit! Am I being overzealous?"

I feel like I just caught my first fish after days of no bites and I'm waving it around, showing it off to anyone who will look.

I reply. Cautiously. I'm careful to be friendly, but not sound CL creepy (that's a fine line). I want to convey that yes, I already love your dog, and I haven't even met her, but no, I'm not trying to steal her, really, I promise.

Then... nothing. Again. I've been denied. This person doesn't even want to accept FREE help from me.
There's really no way to explain the feeling you get when you're rejected by complete strangers who you've never met, and exchanged less than 100 words with. I've looked for housing in SF enough times that I should be accustomed to the dismissive nature of CL, but that big fish I was so excited about? It just jumped the hook.

A few more days go by, and I'm not even getting spam anymore.
I let the ad expire without even realizing.