Sunday, June 5, 2011

Busted

Busted Fence_Resized
 

A few weeks ago, my best friend and I were running some errands before our weekly scheduled power walk when we decided to stop in to a nearby Goodwill. Browsing the aisles, amusing ourselves with the oddball assortment of coffee mugs and knick-knacks, I spotted a hobo clown on the top shelf. He had ragged clothing, a knapsack and –like many clowns often do—an expression that evoked nothing short of terror.

After returning him to the shelf and turning to walk away, I was startled by a crash as the hobo clown teetered off the edge and plummeted to the floor. His ceramic clown head shattered into a million clown head pieces on the floor. And I was mortified. To this day, I cannot recall ever dropping, damaging or breaking an item in any store, let alone a thrift store. Again, mortified.


An older gentleman swooshed out the double doors from the back room and came bustling down the back aisle. I couldn’t apologize enough as he swept the busted clown doll that was once creepy, but now rather pathetic.


After a few moments of red-faced browsing, my friend and I proceeded to the register to purchase a few found odd and ends. I asked the Goodwill employee if they had a box for monetary donations. He said that they had at one point, but now couldn’t seem to locate it. I quickly handed him $4 and simply said. “Well, here you go. I accidentally broke a clown.” He tried handing the money back to me and said that it wasn’t necessary. But I just couldn’t take the money back. And I briefly tried explaining my theory on Karma.

Me: “No, No. Please take the donation. I busted that clown and I don’t feel right not paying for it.”

Goodwill Employee: “Are you sure? You really don’t have to pay for the clown.”

Me: “I do. Because I know if I don’t donate the money for the clown I’ll always be haunted with Bad Thrift Karma and never find anything awesome ever again.”

And the employee accepted the donation and simply said “O….k...ay…” with the kind of bewilderment that my theory often invokes from certain people.

Busted Car_Resized


I’m sorry. But I am under the belief that if you do something wrong without apologizing and  rectifying the situation, that swift payback will surely befall you. And the thrift store is no different. So donate your unused goods, pay the cost without altering the price tag and for God’s sake, pay for broken clown heads.

In retrospect, I think the clown may have gotten his revenge, still. I have been thrifting a few times since, with friends and while alone and found a number of great, useful items. And as you’ve likely read from my previous post on my quest for better health, I’ve also been on quite a few scheduled power walks.

For five days a week I would take a stroll around the neighborhood, go to the gym for resistance training and count my Weight Watchers points. I estimated walking between 2-3.5 miles everyday, before going to work where I likely walk a few more.

Well apparently I’ve been just a little too motivated for exercise. After days of inexplicable pain in my right foot, I finally was able to see a doctor. And the x-ray reveals, with all of the repeated pressure to the area I have given myself a stress fracture in the metatarsal area and inflamed some previous tendinitis in my ankle.

So now I have to wear an unwieldy, uncomfortable and decidedly unfashionable support boot for the next 4-6 weeks. This means no power walks and no solo thrifting for a while, as I can’t drive with this…thing…this apparatus that can only be described as something straight of Dr. Frankenstein’s laboratory.

At the very least I have some time to commit to photographing old finds, brainstorming new ideas for the blog and adding items to my Thrift Wish List. But this also means I will be temporarily out of work, out of traditional exercise and out of the driver’s seat.

I guess it could always be worse. I could’ve been stuck with a cast and crutches. Those aren’t pleasant in the least, especially as we’re approaching a summer heat wave. At least I can kick off this boot for sleeping and showering. That is a major plus.

Well, I suppose it always pays to be more careful. No one likes being broken, even if only temporary. And thrift store finds sure don't like being mishandled. For now, dear readers, I am mostly house-bound. But of course I still fear any future wrath of that busted thrift store clown.

15 comments:

Unknown said...

You are living my nightmare right now. 4-6 weeks without exercise, they would have to cart me away. Shiver. I agree about the clown, I broke some plates once and felt so freakin bad. Never thought about donating money good idea. I do donate all my clothes to this place so hopefully that helps.

Unknown said...

PS I don't know if you are low on comments but I noticed you got the "sign off," dreaded blogger disease. Which means you have to unclick sign off on your google account to comment. I wish they would fix this!

Jackie Jardine said...

Hey there, Dhamma. I know you are big on the karma issue, especially when it comes to the thrifty side of life. I'm glad at least I'm not alone in accidentally breaking something. So embarrassing! I actually have been kind of low on comments lately. What is this "sign off" business? Is it something on my end? I just thought people had nothing to say lately, lol.

Amber Von Felts said...

Oh no, I hope the busted clown didn't curse your thrifting luck! I hope your foot gets better soon too! Rest up :-)

Jackie Jardine said...

Thanks, Amber. I don't know. It's awful coincidental. I just have to be more careful with clowns in the future.

Vanessa said...

I can be a bit superstitious not only with thrifitng, but with believing sometimes things were "meant to be". I'm a hard worker, but sometimes I leave things up to fate, too. ("I will go down a different route today, if I see a thrift along the way, I was meant to go into it!")

I hope you feel well soon! Burn some sage and say a prayer to get the evil clown voodoo out of your way!

suzieQ said...

Aw, you did the right thing and the clown can't hurt you. Just some bad luck health wise but you have taken care of bad clown vibes with your donation. Clowns never bothered me, but my daughter hates them and I now notice there are some super creepy ones around. Too bad, since clowns are supposed to make us smile. I do appreciate how forgiving the people at Goodwill about breakage, I once broke a French canning jar that bothered me a LOT more than it bothered them; I had it in my cart to buy and it fell out. Bummer.

Jackie Jardine said...

Hi there, SuzieQ. I never really had a problem with clowns up until this point. Although there has been a trend of finding rather...menacing looking guys at the thrift. My sister, who is now 22, has a deathly fear of clowns and I'll never forget running into one at a department store when she was 5. That poor clown was only trying to give her a balloon and she let out this...death rattle of a scream. It was a little funny and a little sad for the clown. I've just been running into health problems around every corner this year and am looking for someone to blame. The clown makes an easy culprit, lol.

Vintage Scapes said...

oh no! sad to hear about the stress fracture, that can be such a bummer. I hope you have a speedy recovery. As far as the clown story... I never found them to be terrifying, a little creepy maybe. It reminded me of this usps comercial... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKGKB5bc9DU

Jackie Jardine said...

Thank you for the well wishes, Scapes. I love, love, love that commercial. That clown is hilarious! I just love how the family won't go into the house, lol.

lisanne said...

We have a restaurant in town that was once filled with clown items. It started out with just a couple and then more and more kept appearing. People eventually stopped eating there because it creeped them out. All of the clown eyes watching them, I guess. Anyway, they finally got rid of them all. The business is thriving again. Of course, in that same time frame they had two cooks come and go, but people are sure it was the clowns and not the food. :D

Jackie Jardine said...

Hi, Lisanne! Wow. Just wow. Thank you for sharing this story. I like to think I have a pretty eclectic taste in food and am open-minded to many restaurants. But I think I'd have to draw the line at the clown eatery. I would find eating...or well, doing anything under constant clown surveillance creepy as all hell!

Thanks for stopping on by my blog!

Jackie Jardine said...

Thanks, Van. I think I might just have some sort of ceremonial cleansing with regards to the bad clown mojo going on.

Beccalina said...

Ugh the vile Frank-n-boot...I feel your pain I had to wear one a couple years ago... The 4 weeks will be over before you know it. Darn clown.... :)

Jackie Jardine said...

Whew, I'm not a alone in thinking this thing is something out of a Sci-Fi movie. Glad to hear you healed up, Beccalina. Ya know, with all of the incredibly rude stares from passersby, you'd think I really was Frankenstein's monster. Yes, I'm limping! What of it? Lol.