sunshine0221's Diaryland Diary ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Funny Things Funny Things That Happen When You Work at a Thrift Store A woman came in today, asked how much a can opener was. I told her 25 cents. She asked if I had any cans she could try it out on. I apologized for not having a handy canned goods stash. She contemplated her purchase for about 20 minutes, and finally bought the can opener. She commented that she was very concerned that it might not work. [Author�s note: It was 25 freaking cents!!!!! I am not the poster child for frugality by any means, but it was 25 CENTS!!] Also today, a regular customer who is so irritating that she has been banned from many retail establishments came in to the store. She dug through the trash, found a lid to something, and triumphantly told me she was taking it. Okay, fine. She asked me how much shoes cost. I told her $3.00 and up. She was horrified at the price and reminded me that she is on public assistance. One of the owners happened to be in the store, and he lowered the price on the shoes to a dollar. She also offered me thirty five cents for a tiny metal bicycle and a straw mat. I agreed to the price because it had been a long day and was not up for half an hour of haggling over a tiny metal bicycle and a straw mat. After she left the following conversation occurred: Me: You know that you undermined my pricing authority. Owner of Store: I know, but she is so irritating, I�ll do anything to get her out of the store. It was worth it. I would have paid her two dollars to leave. Me: Good point. But what if she becomes more irritating now? OOS: That would be impossible. Me: Good point. A few weeks ago, when it was still cold, an older woman came into the store right before we were closing. After I closed the store, she followed me to the van and asked for a ride. She said she was cold. I really didn�t want to give her a ride, but was not going to let an older woman turn into an older womansicle. So I said okay. I got in the van. OW climbed into the passenger seat. The van wouldn�t start. I tried a few times and it still didn�t start. I explained to OW that I could not give her a ride. Her response was, �Don�t you have another car??� [Author�s note: Yes, I have another car, I keep it in the back of the van for just this kind of situation. Not.] Also a few weeks ago, a guy came into the store and asked if he could leave his backpack behind the counter. I said sure, and he proceeded to shop for a couple of hours. It was really busy, and one point a guy picked up a sweater that was lying in front of the counter and asked if it was for sale. I said sure, and sold him the sweater. An hour later backpack dude comes and gets his backpack. He asks where his sweater is. The one he left in front of the counter. The one I sold. The look on his face was priceless, as was the woman who overheard the whole thing, and kept saying, really loudly, �I can�t believe you sold his sweater � I can�t believe you did that�. I sold him a coat cheap, and hope he learned not to leave his stuff around while shopping at a thrift store. I also accidentally sold the store�s vacuum. And I almost sold someone�s bicycle. [Author�s note: I did make sure that no one owned the baby carriage before I sold it.] A regular customer brought a turntable up to the counter and asked how much it was. I told him three bucks. He spent around half an hour checking out the turntable, as a part time store employee performed the hand signal for extreme cheapness behind the customer's back. I stifled my giggles, and the guy didn�t buy the turntable, which incidentally was probably worth twenty-five dollars. After he left the part time employee came over and said that the guy had been banned from the store a few times because he is so stingy. Which completely cracked me up. I had no idea that stinginess was a banning offense. 9:41 p.m. - March 30, 2003 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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