How much this is??

I hear this question at least 6 times a day. My customers point to couches, floor tiles, light fixtures, used paint cans, some with prices, some without. But "How much this is?" is not just a simple question of price; it is how my customers introduce what they hope will become a dialogue of worth.
My customers use many ploys. "But today's my birthday!" exclaims Miss Joyce when I give her a figure. (Considering how many birthdays Miss Joyce has a week, it's amazing how youthful she is.) They appeal for my sympathy with comments like, "Look, it's got a little crack here. Can't you take a few dollars off?" They try to pit the employees against each other with comments like, "No, no. Chris says it's only $10!" They even make shit up like, "You forgot my discount." What discount?? And while sometimes they make me feel like I am running a daycare center rather than a store full of donated building materials, I am sort of in awe of them for their ability to engage.
While the cross section of people that walk through the ReStore's doors is pretty diverse, there is one thing that these people all have in common: their incredible willingness to display and employ their humanity. My customers are as delightful, as self-absorbed, and as quick to laughter/indignation/temper-tantrums as small children. And they know it but are not afraid of it.
Perhaps their lack of inhibition stems from the fact that they are from "The South." Perhaps it is because they feel they have nothing left to hide after living in a football stadium for days with 15,000 other people, who like themselves, were suffering from shock and exposure. Or perhaps it is because after listening to politicians argue endlessly and without result over the worth of their communities and homes they have decided that these things must not have much value to the American public and, with nothing else left, they have decided to try and cash in on the value of their humanity in order to rebuild their lives.
If only we knew what that was.
How bout $4 dollars off that lamp?