I like to shop in thrift stores and search for rare things or bargains. I especially love to buy books.

A couple of years ago, I visited a thrift store close to my home, run by the local church. I found so many fantastic books that I had to go get a shopping cart as I couldn’t possibly fit all my amazing finds in a basket.

It was fairly empty in the store, and as the staff packed the books in four bags, they were clearly a little worried.

I was a regular, and they had clearly spotted me in the neighbourhood. They were worried about how I would be able to carry everything home. It’s just a five-minute walk, but with four loaded book bags, that would be quite challenging. So, the lovely people at the checkout offered to drive me home.

Me: “Oh, thank you so much for your kind offer! I’m planning to take a cab home; I agree that it would be impossible to carry all these bags home.”

I loaded the bags into the cart and walked outside, where I unloaded the cart and called for a cab. One of the cashiers followed after me and retrieved the cart.

Me: “Oh, I was going to return that.”

Cashier: “You don’t need to. It’s such a slow day, I can do it.”

So, I sat down and waited for the cab, instead. For a whole minute.

But it is a sign that you might have shopped a little more than you really should when the staff offers to drive you home.

I work part-time at a thrift store, and we have volunteers who come in and work for a few hours. One of the volunteers comes up to the counter where I’m working to purchase something that is $10. I ring it up and give her the total, which is $10.74. She gives me a twenty.

When I go to get her change, I notice there are no fives.

Me: “I’m all out of fives, so I’m going to give you a twenty, and if you could, run next door and get four fives?”

There’s a bar right next to the thrift store, so I want her to go and ask for a change from $20 and have her bring the four fives back so I can give her the correct amount of change. The reason I don’t do it myself is that I am the only person there who knows how to work the till, and my boss doesn’t like it when I leave the till unattended.

Volunteer: “Wait, what did you just give me?”

Me: “I gave you a twenty because I’m out of fives, so if you could, go next door and get four fives.”

Instead, she stuck the twenties in her wallet and left. I never got my four fives, so the till was off by $20 when I counted it. My simple instructions went in one ear and straight out the other.

I work for a charity thrift store. Someone donated an old, high-quality recliner. I was presiding over the donation when I heard odd noises coming from the recliner. I grabbed a flashlight and started looking inside.

There was a tabby cat entangled within the internals!

I got my manager and we tried to get the cat to leave, but it either wouldn’t or couldn’t, so we decided to contact animal control.

Animal control sent over an officer who was able to get the cat out of the recliner. The officer scanned the cat’s microchip and was about to call the owner when a panicked woman arrived at the store looking for her cat. She had donated the recliner, gone home, and been unable to locate her cat.

We returned the cat to her, and the cat started purring very loudly.

I work for a thrift store. A lady comes up with her litterbox, still full of used cat sand.

Me: “I’m sorry, but we can’t take items that have been exposed to feces or urine.”

Customer: “Oh. I can go dump the sand out at the edge of the parking lot and bring it back.”

Me: “It has already been exposed to the waste, so we still can’t take it.”

Customer: “But you have to take it! I’m going to a care facility and can’t take it with me.”

Me: “No, we don’t have to. We aren’t responsible for your trash.”

She drove off pissed.

I was working in a thrift store. A guy came in carrying a rather large mailbox he had purchased there. He started talking about how far his house is from town, and suddenly, he literally threw the mailbox on the counter between us, and it bounced up and hit me in the face. He then started screaming at me.

Customer: “You shouldn’t have sold this to me! You should’ve known it wouldn’t fit my post!”

And on and on.

He was a real bag of nuts.