Don’t Bring A Knife To A… Well, Anything

I used to volunteer for a charity thrift shop. One day, I was just buzzing around the shop, tidying, making sure all was good, when I came across something rather alarming: a knife. It was just lying on the floor amongst the DVD section.

Weapons are seldom seen in the UK for context. We might see armed police, but that’s about it. There’s a limit to the size of the blade you’re allowed. So, this knife lying in a simple charity shop was a massive cause of concern. Especially since we had a young teenager volunteering for us at the time. She was very worried.

So, we picked it up (carefully!) and got in touch with the police, who came and took it away.

About half an hour later, a man comes into the shop.

Man: “Uh, hi, not sure if I left a knife here? I was using it to open DVDs…”

Me: “The police have it; you’ll have to go to the station.”

Man: “You’re kidding! That was expensive!”

Me: “I’m sorry, but we had to report it. They took it away.”

The man just threw up his arms in an exasperated gesture and left. We didn’t ever find out if he got it back, or his intentions, but here’s a little tip for you: don’t bring a blade to a charity shop to “open DVDs”. Looking back, even as I’m typing this, I wonder what his true intentions were. That thought makes me nervous.