2 months ago
16
Q: Whenever I take a bag of things to the local charity shop, I’m always greeted with grateful thanks from the ladies who work there. Recently, however, my donation was upended and a collection of old marbles was whisked away. Apparently, they were perfect for a grandson. So no fund-raising there, then? Am I right to feel aggrieved?
S.B., Auchenflower, QLD
Credit: Illustration by Simon Letch
A: Working in a charity shop isn’t easy. The job is often unpaid, the days are long and busy, the customers can be demanding and you have to spend hours sorting through bags of donations, rummaging around with your bare hands in the dank, fetid stew that used to be someone’s old clothes and bedsheets. So I can kind of see why a charity-shop worker might feel entitled to get first dibs on the best stuff: a collection of old marbles; a vintage designer dress; a valuable, original Monet that turned out to be a slightly-less-valuable original Manet, which was a little disappointing but, when popped into an IKEA frame, looked quite nice in the kid’s bedroom.
That said, a charity-shop worker should still be expected to pay for those items because that’s the whole point of a charity shop – to raise money to help the needy so the needy don’t have to do all their shopping in a charity shop. So yes, you’re right to feel aggrieved and you should’ve definitely spoken up and insisted that this woman pay for the marbles. If she’d refused, you could’ve taken them back and donated them to a rival charity shop. Or given them to a neighbourhood kid who’d enjoy playing with them. Or – if those old marbles happened to be the Elgin Marbles – returned them to the Greek government. They’ve been waiting for them a long time and they should get them for free.
