i work for a coorporate thrift store

i work at savers and i like my job a lot. savers (value village/village des valuers) is a corporate thrift store that is located in just about eeeevery state and in some parts of canada. unlike thrift stores around here, such as the boys dakota boys ranch and the arc, savers buys every donation from someone and gives that money to a charity (the YWCA in our case). other thrift stores get their items, price them, and put them on the sales floor. or at least thats what they tell me. they also tell me that i should NEVER EVER speak to someone who offers me paperwork about joining a union. this is a reasonable request because as far as i know, there is no need for one.

how that works:

• people donate their stuff.
• an employee takes it in the back of store
• someone puts it on a huge cart on top of a ton of other donations
• once the cart is full they weigh it
• according to how much it weighs, they buy it from the YWCA

after that:

• they sort everything out: clothes, hats, purses, bedding, furniture, electronics, books, etc.
• whoever is in that specific department for those items weeds out the bad from the good
• they price it according to its brand, quality, and demand (is it cool? is it from 1997?)
• they put it on the floor

my job:

• im a cashier. i total everything, give discounts, receipts, and stamp cards. i like to stamp cards.
• i put stuff away that people leave NEATLY on the DESIGNATED fitting room rack. RIGHT?!
• i make sure i talk to everyone within 10 ft of me and remind them of sales.... kind of.
• i take old stuff off the floor

CUTE STORY!!

ultimately, my job rocks. i love having the opportunity to make people feel awesome about finding a ton of stuff for a good price. the other day i came upon a little girl stepping out of the dressing room; she was tugging her shirt down and looking not very comfortable. her dad asked me if the shirt matched the shorts, and i said that it did but that she didnt look very comfortable. so i asked her if she wanted to pick out a different shirt and she nodded enthusiastically. so dad and i went and shopped a bit; he told me that he and his wife had just separated and that the kids needed some things to leave at his new place. all the while he was picking out some pretty stupid shirts; i found a nice quality, cotton half sleeved shirt with a pretty crochet neckline that had blue flowers on a soft beige for 4 bucks. very neutral. she went and put it on, came out with a big smile on her face, and twirled around a bunch and topped it all off with a high five.

there are quite a few people who come in with kids that are kind of in the down and outs of their lives. there was a woman who came and bought some kids clothes with a little girl. she remarked that the girl had just come from iowa missing some essentials. i asked (because im kind of nosy) what was in iowa; needless to say, the little girl was on an "extended vacation". on the bright side, she got some pretty rad clothes and a bunch of books we were all pretty excited about because they were titles we had grown up with. rad!


on the not so bright side

because im working around a bazillion different items from a billion different places, my allergies kick up on me a lot. there are pretty specific times when i notice something i touched/walked by has a particular something about it that sets me off in an eye itching, runny nose, sneezing hissy fit.
AND SO i just came home from work with an itch on my elbow and at the back of my scalp. needless to say, i scrubbed the shit out of my skin and hair once i got home and ate a reeses peanut butter cup.

now im waiting for my hair to dry and for this bagel to settle so i can do some yoga with rodney yee. if you think asians aint packin, rodney yee is sure to show you up on that thought.case in point


i like yoga