Adventures at the Thrift Store!

I worked at Lynden Christian's thrift store, Second Chance, on Saturday. I love working there! It's always so entertaining, and I get to play store. Remember how much fun it was to sell stuff to your siblings, and ring it up (if you were so lucky to have a toy cash register), and bag it up, and sometimes even write out bills. Oh! I loved that! And now I get to do it once or twice a month with real stuff, and real money, and real bags! It's my retail fix on the other side of the counter.

And usually it's a retail fix on the buying side as well...

I came home with this little lovely last Saturday:

Isn't she sweet, and whimsical, and Spring-y with her little duck at her feet?

I'm always looking for yellow ceramic stuff, older stuff that is...It wasn't the most common color, and it looks vintage and is a nice contrast to all the navy in my house...

{sigh} This was a particularly good find for me!

Another benefit of working at Second Chance is that you get to meet people you probably wouldn't otherwise meet; and for the most part, this is fun.

But there are always a handful of...uh...especially quirky ones in attendance...

The Quirky Customer of our Saturday shift came up to my co-worker while I was elsewhere in the store. (In the interest of full disclosure, "elsewhere in the store" means I was taking a turn shopping for myself while it wasn't too busy. Hey! I'm helping the profit margins in SO many ways when I work there...)

This big ol' elderly man came up to Kristin at the counter, set down a miniature bottle of baby powder (you know the kind you get from the hospital with all manner of other sample goodies) and said: "It says right here on this bottle that this is NOT FOR RESALE but it has a price tag on it."

Kristin politely thanked him for bringing it to our attention, and said she would let someone know {placate, placate}. As she reached to pick it up and put it behind the counter, he snatched it back and said, "But I want it!"

Kristin, a little taken aback, hesitated and said, "Okay..."

"I'm not going to tell you what I need it for, or how I'm going to use it," he interrupted. Then he put it in his coat pocket and walked back into the store...

Well, okay then...

Believe me, we did not want to know what he was going to use it for!! Neither did we wish to take issue with him over a 49 cent bottle of baby powder...We're not sure if he thought that because it was NOT FOR RESALE, that he didn't need to pay for it, or what? He disappeared back into the store, and we never witnessed his departure, and he never checked out before our shift was over.

Some mysteries are better left unsolved, and this is one of them. We both kind of had the urge to use the hand sanitizer after that encounter; and I didn't even see the man!

Next month I work a couple of Saturdays, so perhaps I'll see Mr. Baby Powder again. {dread} Undoubtedly, there will be some other interesting character present, so stay tuned for more

ADVENTURES AT THE THRIFT STORE!!