Charity shop SCs

[Lace Neil Singer]

For a while after I left college, I worked in a charity shop due to not being able to get a job right away; no experience = no job. Some of the people there were absolutely disgusting; in fact, some of the worst SCs I encountered were at that place. O.o Such as the woman who said snarkily, "Why don't you have more of a choice of clothing?" to me once, leaving me struck dumb at her audacity. Or the woman who waved her hand in front of her nose as she walked up to the till as if she could smell something bad. -.- Not to mention all the SCs who threw clothes on the floor after trying stuff on; stuffed it in their bags and tried to walk out with it (yep, we're talking about stuff that costs all of £2 here.); mistook the shop sign for "creche" and left their out of control children in the store or tried to pass fake notes. Nope, I do not miss it at all. XD Anyone got any stories of charity shop SCs?

[crazylegs]

Shoplifting still happens at charity shops, it's virtually impossible to stop really.

[SweetMimura]

How could you live with yourself, robbing from a charity shop? I feel bad if I don't pay over the asking price, tbh.

Plus, if I was so desperate for clothes that I considered robbing somewhere, I'd probably do it at a place with a more modern selection.

[HawaiianShirts]

I visited a shop in southern New Mexico that was on the property of an assisted living facility for adults with mental handicaps. The shop was owned and operated by the facility, and the staff was primarily residents whose mental capacities were sufficient to have them work a few hours each day stocking or sorting or pricing stuff. In fact, the girl who rang us up had Down Syndrome, and a caregiver was standing right behind her to help her through the whole process. I got a T-shirt, two ties, two hard-back books, and a new ice cream scoop and happily paid their asking price of $8.75 at the register.

There were signs all around this shop that said, "We are a non-profit second-hand store. All our proceeds go to the benefit of <Name of Facility> residents. Please don't ask us to lower our prices."

Yes. Apparently, they had enough people coming in and trying to haggle that they had to put up signs!

[Becks]

Plus, if I was so desperate for clothes that I considered robbing somewhere, I'd probably do it at a place with a more modern selection.

You'd be suprised at the selection at some second hand shops.

(A lot of times, though, it all depends on the location.)

[AlmightyALT]

'Charity shops' and women's shelters in Japan won't take clothes or things that aren't in perfect order and in style. I heard rumors of a shop that would only take donated Louie Vitton and Coach bags because that's what women in Japan carry around. But then again clothes in Japan are ridiculously expensive and no one complains but us foreigners.

[AirHostess]

I love going to posh charity shops, find all sorts of goodies

Oh and they are great for books too! I have seen people haggling over prices, how cheap can you get, depriving a charity of money!

[edible_hat]

I posted one in Sightings last week, it involved a woman returning stuff because she didn't like it anymore.

I love charity shops, also when I was growing up I'd look forward to the local Rotary club's annual jumble sale. I bought so much crap over the years, half the time my parents made me re-donate it (usually with their price tags still on). Best bargain ever: 2 bowling balls for $2. They sat in a cupboard for 6 months then got re-donated. (But man it was fun kicking them home)

[depechemodefan]

Hee, I'm pretty bad then.

I went to one and found a betamax (about 5 years ago) and I still had some tapes on beta that I wanted to watch, and the betamax machine was $12. There's no way to see if it still worked, and even though there was signs posted "electronics are not guarenteed to work" or something like that, the guy there said if it didn't work we could return it.

It didn't work, we returned it and got our money back.

You either can see it as "hey, the money goes to a charity, you should eat the difference and just throw away the machine" or "well, the charity shop is a business, even though it's non-profit. If they can't guarentee something working, then they shouldn't put it out to sell it."

I once found a toaster oven in a charity shop, an old fashion one (well, maybe 20 years old). I could use it only a few times because the thing would heat up so much that it wasn't safe. And I did try it out at the shop and it seemed ok, but it's 10 min. after it's turned on that it heats up so badly. I threw it away. My thinking is that the shop shouldn't sell faulty equipment. Then again, people shouldn't donate faulty equipment, just because they don't want to take them to the dump.

I did get a computer monitor for $10, after the original died on me. The monitor I got at the charity shop sometimes tints the image pink, but it's still usable.

Oh, and sometimes people who go to charity shops go because they can't afford anywhere else. But then lot of dealers from flea markets, pawn shops, sellers on eBay would come and buy the good stuff. Then the well-to-do housewives started to come in to get bargains. Which I noticed drove up the price of the merchandise.

Also, I've seen on tv about those trucks of the Salvation Army that are parked in parking lots. There is a guy from, say, 8-5 to get the donations, but after 5, when he is gone, people just leave stuff by the truck. So this tv news reporter staked out the place and tons of people would come after dark and just steal the donations. I know of one couple who must have been doing that, since they had a shop in a flea market and sold a lot of things really cheap, and they always had new stock.