Badwill
Yesterday, the Mrs. and I decided we’d clean out the closet. We put a bunch of clothes that neither of us wear anymore in a big, lawn care type trash bag. I was tasked with taking it to Goodwill to make a donation. I arrive at Goodwill at 12:50. I get the fairly heavy bag out of the truck and make my way to the door and notice they’re not open. I see movement inside and a lady comes to the door. I think she’s coming to get my donation. She says to me that they’re not open yet and that I’d have to come back at 1:00.
I say: Ma’am, I’m just dropping these clothes off. I don’t need a receipt or anything.
She says: You’ll have to bring them back at 1:00
I say: I can’t just give these to you now?
She says: We open at 1:00
I was unconvinced that I was hearing her properly and refused to believe she didn’t really understand the concept of Goodwill and I wanted clarification. So, I said: You’re telling me that you’re not going to take this donation because I happen to be here ten minutes before you open?
She says: Sir, you’ll have to bring them back at 1:00.
I take the bag and drop it by the front door. I then say: Well, I’m here trying to make a donation. I’m leaving the bag here. You can throw it away if you want.
I didn’t realize Goodwill was run by the state. I got in my truck and left. What is wrong with people?
January 23rd, 2006 at 10:50 am
Been there, done that.
We actually have a bin in front of the local supermarket that we can just throw clothes into now. 24/7. If you need a receipt you have to call them otherwise, just throw em on it.
Makes it a lot easier and they only come by a couple days a week to pick stuff up.
January 23rd, 2006 at 11:47 am
Good grief, SU. Wait the 10 minutes and don’t fret about it. Why in the world is that so important to you that you had to turn it into a protest?
January 23rd, 2006 at 12:02 pm
Because I was there. She was there. And all she had to do was take the damn bag. I’m not wasting ten minutes on an idiot.
January 23rd, 2006 at 12:10 pm
Barry, all she had to do was says thanks, and take the stuff inside the door.
I wouldn’t wait around to give a donation, either. If making a donation to Goodwill becomes a hassle I’ll just stop giving things to Goodwill and give them to someone else. Charities are marketplaces, too.
January 23rd, 2006 at 12:16 pm
Or just not even come to the door since I didn’t see her there until she was close to the door.
January 23rd, 2006 at 12:29 pm
It’s beside the point. Goodwill is not all about you, nor do you work for them or set their hours. Yeah, maybe she could’ve been more polite but you have no idea what the reasoning was. Maybe someone got attacked once by opening the doors too soon. I know from experience that sometimes if you’re not ready to open a business then you’re not ready to open and people outside have to wait.
The world does not revolve around us, and to get by you have to play by the rules. I know that goes against a libertarian bent, but that’s the truth. And if you were truly motivated by altruism and a desire to give of yourself, you would’ve waited and given them the clothes when they were ready for it, instead of driving off and depriving the people you were trying to help.
January 23rd, 2006 at 12:30 pm
Sorry, I misread the end of your post – I thought you said you took the bag and left. Disregard that last part.
January 23rd, 2006 at 12:34 pm
Without my and others’ donations, they’re out of business. They should accommodate me, particularly when it’s really damn easy for her to say ‘leave the bag there’ or ‘I’ll take it’ instead of what appeared to be her just trying to make me wait.
January 23rd, 2006 at 12:44 pm
Must have been the weekend for that sort of thing (cleaning out the closet). Now contrast my experience with the Salvation Army. I drove into their facility at 12:30 PM on Saturday, there were THREE guys that helped unload the 10 trash bags of clothes from my truck, and I was given a receipt. In less than 3 minutes.
And, upon leaving, the very last sign one sees says “God Bless”. Just knowing it gives the many liberals agida put a smile on my face… 😉
January 23rd, 2006 at 1:02 pm
I don’t know how much customer service you can expect from a charity. Most of the people working there are either volunteers or minimum wage employees. You gets what you pays for.
January 23rd, 2006 at 1:25 pm
I take clothes and more to the Blount County Goodwill many times throughout the year. I rarely speak to anyone, if I can avoid it. I just put it on the porch and leave unless I do want a receipt. There was an article or report one time on this particular Goodwill location stating they sometimes are inundated with donations, many of which are later determined to be useless. Also, keep in mind that Goodwill hires the handicapped of which some may not yet have the learned social skills for customer (donor) interaction. Have you shopped at the Kroger near Target? You might as well always go through the self-service register at that location.
I am not sure, Jay G, but are you trying to denigrate liberals? I don’t know what “agida” means and could not figure out the meaning of that sentence.
January 23rd, 2006 at 1:27 pm
Take your stuff to Waste Not Want Not at Five Points in Maryville instead. It will likely be put to better use, including supporting a creative and dedicated entrepenuer.
January 23rd, 2006 at 1:36 pm
MNeal, good point on the social skills. However, this particular lady seemed to have adequate mental ability.
The kroger there recently changed the U-Scan lanes to 15 items or less. Feh.
Persimmon, I’ll have to check out Waste Not Want Not.
January 23rd, 2006 at 1:43 pm
FWIW, I know that the Goodwill(s) around here have a serious problem with people using their property as a communal dumping ground. They “give” away old couches, “give” away broken TVs, and “give away” giant bags of trash.
So they generally tend to have a pretty strict policy of when you can leave stuff. In her case, it was clearly a case of an employee acting on orders instead of thinking on her feet, but whatever..
January 23rd, 2006 at 1:59 pm
You could make the same argument with a for-profit business…why didn’t the clerk at Starbucks open the store 10 minutes early to accomodate you..you just wanted to buy a bag of beans and you had the cash in your hands. Goodwill employees are employees all the same as anywhere else.
January 23rd, 2006 at 2:10 pm
Manish, not even similar.
January 23rd, 2006 at 2:10 pm
MNeal,
It’s Italian slang for heartburn. And the “the” before “many” was a typo – I did not meant to disparage “all” liberals, just most of them… 😉
January 23rd, 2006 at 2:35 pm
Apparently Jay G is under the impression that conservatives are all Christian and liberals are all atheists. What a stupid, stupid comment.
January 23rd, 2006 at 4:20 pm
What part of “many” don’t you understand?
Here’s a newsflash, Mr. Humor-Impaired person: “Many” does not equal “all”…
January 23rd, 2006 at 5:40 pm
Heh. Good rant.
’round here, the normal opening time for a business on Sunday is noon.
The GW store near us has a huge dumpster that people can leave stuff.
The donation bin used to be a “one way deposit”, so you could put a bag of clothes in there and only the store could open it.
But someone broken the lock mechanism to the point where it can’t be locked.
After they close – or before they open – peeps will go through the donation bin so that they don’t have to pay for things.
I live in a great neighborhood, in a great city, with great people. NOT!
January 23rd, 2006 at 6:36 pm
What makes you think many liberals care that someone says God Bless? Private organizations can do whatever they please…the government, though, must adhere to the bill of rights.
January 24th, 2006 at 12:35 am
Manish, you’re correct; the government must adhere to the Bill of Rights. So why don’t they? Now, find for me the part of the Bill of Rights which guarantees anyone the “right” to deny others their freedom of religion. I do not favor any one church over another, but I’m also sworn to defend the Constitution, and it does not – not – require the separation of Church and State. What it does do is to mandate that the State has no authority and can not make ANY laws whatsoever concerning religon. While you’re at it, locate that clause which says that your ( in the generic sense ) rights override mine. And please, don’t quote judicial determinations. The word “precedent” simply means using someone else’s errors to prove that the end justifies the means.” Contemplate the origin of the infamous Separation Clause: Thomas Jefferson said: “….. which declared that their legislature should ‘make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,’ thus building a wall of separation between church and State. Pay particular attention to “or prohibiting the free exercise thereof” …….
January 24th, 2006 at 7:01 pm
CarlS:
But is free exercise of religion a collective right or an individual one?
In any case, I’m not aware of any use of the Constitution to prohibit private free exercise of religion. The Constitution has, however, been used to prevent people who are so insecure in their faith that they feel unjustified until they’ve plastered it all over government buildings, city parks, etc., from doing so, but that’s another matter. Free exercise of religion does not include the “right” to have the government treat your religion as a preferred one.