(I work for a local non-profit that includes a thrift store that funds our work. We have a box truck that we use to pick up donations from people. We will pick almost anything with a few exceptions. The other day I answered the phone:)

Lady: “I would like to schedule a pickup time. I have a washing machine to donate.”

Me: “Great! Let me get some information from you. First, is the machine in working order?”

Lady: “No, but I figure that you could part it out or recycle it or something.”

Me: “I’m very sorry, but we cannot schedule our truck to pick up broken items. If you want us to have it you will have to find a neighbor or a friend to help you get it here.”

Lady: “No one will help me and I really wanted to give it to you guys.”

Me: “Ma’am, I am sorry but it costs more to send the truck to your house than we could get by recycling the metal in the washer.”

Lady: “But I really wanted to give it to you. I guess it will just have to send it to the landfill if you don’t come get it.”

Me: “I am sorry, but we cannot pick up non-working items because it costs too much.”

Lady: “Well, I will just have to send the machine to the landfill. The new machine is being delivered tomorrow and the old washer has to be gone and I really wanted to give it to you guys.”

Me: “I understand that it is important to keep it out of the landfill. Who are you buying your new washer from?”

Lady: “[Big Box Store].”

Me: “That is great news because I know that they will take your old washer away and recycle it for you. That way it won’t go to the landfill.”

Lady: “But I really wanted to give it to you guys.”

Me: “Ma’am, with fuel costs and labor costs it would cost us about $50 to pick up your washer and we might get $5 for recycling it. We simply cannot pick up broken items. But [Big Box Store] will take it to recycle it for you when they bring your new one.”

Lady: “But I really wanted to give it to you guys.”

(I tried a few more times to explain the logic of why it did not make sense for us to lose money when it is hard enough as a charity to raise the necessary funds to perform our work. I just kept getting the response. “But I really wanted to give it to you guys.”)

Me: *at this point starting to lose my patience* “Surely you see that it doesn’t make sense for us to spend $50 to send our truck to you when we will only get $5 for your broken washer.”

(Recycling is not our charity work; alleviating poverty is.)

Lady: “But I really wanted to give it to you guys.”

(At this point I did not know what else to say that would get my message across to her so I just told her one more time that we would not pick up her broken washer and hung up quickly. I am still puzzled as to why she wanted to gift us her broken washer that would cost more money than we could make from it.)

(On a particularly busy Sunday in our thrift store:)

Customer: *walking in and grabbing a cart* “This place is always way too busy! Can’t move in the aisles when it’s always this crowded! You need to do something about this!”

Me: *shrug* “Okay.”

(About an hour or so later, the same customer is checking out.)

Me: “All right! That will be [amount], please!”

Customer: “Ugh! Your prices are so d*** high! This is why nobody comes to your store!”

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(I’m the silly employee in this one. I’m ringing up a woman who is buying some clear glassware.)

Me: “Your total comes to 5:17 pm, ma’am.”

Customer: *confused*

Me: *facepalming* “I mean, your total is $3; your clear glassware was half off. I’m so sorry!”

Customer: *laughing* “So how much longer is your shift today?”

Me: “Two more hours, unfortunately.”

(I am a plus-size female in my 20s, and I work at a thrift shop where I’m often the only person working the front of the store in the mornings. I check out an elderly man who is just buying a single chair. It’s heavily marked down and displayed on the sidewalk because it’s the last one of the set. The chair is part wicker and part metal, and while it’s heavier than you’d expect, it’s still completely manageable. It’s also comfortable outside, but I have trouble regulating body temperature, so I’m visibly sweaty.)

Me: “Thanks for shopping with us and supporting our mission. Have a good one!”

Customer: “Sweetie, you’ve been great. I’ll be sure to ask for you next time. Now, can someone help an old man get a chair into his car?”

Me: “Absolutely. If you pull your car up to the curb, I can help with that, no problem. It’s pretty slow right now, so I can step away from the register.”

Customer: “Oh, no, I don’t want you out there! It’s far too warm, and I can’t let you do that to yourself! And besides… Well, anyway, just call someone else, sweetheart.”

Me: “It’s really no trouble, sir. I can probably get you loaded and out of here before someone in the back could even get out here.”

(In the end, he flat-out refused my help, though he was still very sweet about it. I called someone, and after helping him, my coworker reassured me that he was just very old-fashioned but completely meant well. It’s the first time something like this has happened to me, but I’m sure it won’t be the last. I’m mostly laughing it off because not only am I the one who put the chair outside that morning, but I lifted two of them at once and carried them from the back of the store on my first day working there about a month ago!)

(I come back from lunch and find groceries from the market in our shopping center on the counter next to my register. My coworker allowed a woman to leave them there. I’m skeptical on whether it’s a good idea, but I look in one bag and just see bread and cookies, so I just shrug and move on, thinking the customer knows what she bought and whether it could spoil. Eventually my coworker moves them under the counter. The customer finishes her shopping about 45 minutes later and cheerfully asks for her groceries. When I pull them out, it’s pretty clear that something is not right and something is starting to go off. We discover she had shrimp and salmon in one of the bags and it had started to thaw.)

Customer: “Oh, dear, what’s wrong? Did I buy expired shrimp? What’s today’s date? Did I buy bad shrimp? Should I take it back? Did I buy expired shrimp?”

Coworker: “Uh, it’s [date].”

Customer: “Oh, well, I guess it isn’t bad… Wait, are you sure that’s the date? Ah, actually I know that’s right… So, I guess it’s not bad, then? Hmm.”

(We stand in silence for a moment. I worry the lady is going to finally drop her cheery attitude and get upset. Instead, she just shrugs.)

Customer: “Well, I didn’t buy bad seafood. I suppose it is shrimp, after all! I better go. It is shrimp!” *laughs*

(She leaves with a smile on her face, even carrying spoiling seafood. I turn to my coworker in shock and we finally exhale. Worst part? The customer was wearing medical scrubs. I hope I never need her help.)

Me: “Wow. Just wow.”