The 7 Deadly Sins Of Thrifting

Repent, all ye greedy thrifters. 

When most people picture the average thrift shopper, they probably are thinking of an ecologically-friendly, price-savvy guy or gal who enjoys knowing that their dollars are going to serve a good cause in the community. 

There are, however, those who use and abuse thrift stores with awful acts of greed, ignorance and total disregard toward the establishment, staff and even other thrift shoppers.

Those who perpetrate these acts are likely committing at least one of...

The 7 Deadly Sins of Thrifting

1. Stealing. Stealing from a thrift store is robbing employees of a paycheck and the charities that thrift store supports.
2. Price Changing. Price changing is stealing. Pay the price that's marked or don't buy it.
3. Making a mess you expect others will clean up for you. If you knock a sweater off the hanger, pick it up and put it back. Don't leave it on the floor for someone else to step on.
4. "Shopping" from other people's carts. Accept the fact that someone may beat you to the punch and grab something you just love. Unless they put it back to the shelf, they have dibs. So don't take anything out of their cart on the sly.
5. Blocking the aisle with your cart. Intentionally blocking off an aisle of the store so you can scan the entire section undisturbed is just plain rude. If you end up blocking, clear a path if someone asks to squeeze past you. And hold the attitude when you do it. 
6. Disrespecting the staff. Arguing prices or getting sassy with the clerk unlocking the fitting room if you have more than the limit allows...is simply unacceptable behavior. How would you like it if these thrift employees hassled you when you were trying to work?
7. Condescension. Just because you may thrift for leisure and can maybe afford to shop elsewhere doesn't mean you have the right snub anyone in the vicinity. Also keep your negative opinions to yourself when it comes to what other thrifters are buying. If I'm buying a clown doll you think is hideous, chances are I know it's hideous... and that's why I'm buying it. 

I've been witness to some pretty disturbing thrifting behavior, and it's always disheartening to see. It's true that any job involving direct interaction with the public faces perils such as these. Employees and volunteers could likely tell you stories that would shock the hell out of you. Price haggling, shoplifting, physical if not verbal altercations between customers. It  happens. Yikes!  

But as I always say, thrift and let thrift. Don't cheat, lie, steal or be unbearably rude. Otherwise your thrift karma will be dangerously off-kilter, so much in fact, that you may be greeted with bare shelves and empty racks at thrift stores forever and ever until you come clean from your bad thrifting behavior. So be good little thrifters, ladies and gents. Be neat, buy honestly, donate and say hello to the staff while you're at it. 

What bad thrifting behavior have you witnessed? 

Odds 'n' Ends Thursday: Price Fails, Technical Difficulties & Thrifted Music That Will Greatly Disturb You

Price Fail.

This mischievous elf/wizard/pointy-hat-wearing troll was spotted at Goodwill yesterday afternoon.
He was tagged at $4.97.

Five dollars.

A four-inch-high, hideous-faced fantasy creature?

Five dollars?

Don't get me wrong. I don't mind forking over some hard-earned dollars for kitschy thrift-found oddities. But this is some kind of deranged secondhand price gouging.

________

In other odds 'n' ends notes of miscellany, I've been experimenting with my novelty faux-vintage stereo the last few days. This modern wonder is a record player/iPod dock/CD player and recorder.

After messing around with track intervals and recording levels, I finally ripped a few albums from vinyl to CD. Then I just popped the discs into my laptop, typed in the track names and loaded them into my iTunes library.

I was hoping to have all the technical kinks worked out so that I can share some of my thrifted albums with you. But damn, does finding a reliable source of streaming audio for Blogger have to be difficult. If any of you technically-versed readers/bloggers out there have a suggestion for a free simple interface that's compatible with Blogger, I'll send positive thrift vibes your way. Hell, I'll make you your very own thrifted mix album.

I mean, look. Look at this album. I know that you can barely contain your excitement, but this compilation gem of incredibly strange songs was worth every penny...all 98 of them. And believe me "Seven Little Girls (Sitting in the Back Seat)" by Paul Evans is testimony to the entire album concept.

The song is from the perspective of the driver, who is peeved because his buddy "Fred" is macking it up with seven... count 'em, seven "little" girls in the backseat. This is problematic for a number of reasons.

1. I don't care how "little" these girls are. How do you fit seven of them, plus one Lothario named Fred in the back seat and have ample room for all the described "hugging and kissing?"
2. Why are there seven girls back there swooning for the same guy at the same time? Hell, he doesn't even have a car.
3. How pervy is it that the driver is forced to witness all of these 8-person shenanigans from his rear view mirror, while being sung to in the chorus to "keep his eyes on the road and hands on the wheel" by seven squealing presumably prepubescent girls?
4. And lastly and perhaps most important for legality sake, how does one define "little?" Are these girls just extraordinarily compact? They must be... to fit seven back there, plus Fred. Otherwise, we listeners might assume "little" to be quantitative, as in numbers, as in age....as in age of consent.

Okay. I'll cave. Here's a video....of the 1948 performance... with puppets.

We're going for maximum creep factor now. Enjoy.

A Portrait of Femininity

A Victorian beauty manual, Kabuki makeup brush, Revlon red lipstick, a brooch and a vintage copy of the Girl Scouts handbook surround a vintage-inspired frame.

This is my portrait of thrifted femininity.

The topic of what it means to be feminine has always been a bit contradictory for me. While I’m always educating myself on issues of gendered equality and resisting the advertising machine for body type and beauty expectations, I do admittedly spend a considerable amount of money on keeping up appearances, so to speak.

Sure, I find thrifted and bargain clothes and accessories that I love immensely. But when it comes to skin care and cosmetics, I find myself blissfully wandering the aisles of Sephora with glassy, wide eyes in amazement of all the pretty, pretty things.

And what’s so wrong with that, really?

Perhaps the money I spend on looking like a celebrity with a team of professional stylists is partially funded by the incredible savings on all of the awesome, kitsch, vintage oddities I have affordably bought secondhand.

Am I right?

These Doll Heads Are How Much?

While grazing the aisles of my local Goodwill in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, I can’t help but wonder the many intricacies of thrift store pricing. That bejeweled Golden Girls style sweater is $4. So is that 1992 edition of Monopoly, regardless it is missing more than a few plastic houses and hotels. So who is deciding the monetary value of these goods? Is there a pricing guide somewhere that calculates the cost? Or is this completely arbitrary?
The world may never know the mysteries of the thrift store stockroom. We certainly know little of the previous owners, short of the occasional initials or gift inscriptions. One thing we do know…know damn well… is a good find. That perfect item that strikes the  balance between our personal value in how much we’re willing to spend and the actual cost. It may be different for everyone. A limited edition comic book, a vintage Barbie, the perfect floral print grandma sweater. We all have our ‘This is it’ moment now and then.
I’ve had several. And I intend to share those moments here on Let’s Go Thrifting. But I have much more to offer than my thrift store acquisitions. I have my wit. My wisdom. My unique insight into the socioeconomic benefits and leisurely pursuits of secondhand shopping.
Also, doll heads.

I have photos of doll heads. Doll heads affordably priced at 97 cents, albeit. But doll heads. Arranged neatly in rows, no less. And this is a sight that begs several questions:

• Who donated these and why?
• Who is buying them?
• For what purpose?

But this isn’t the end of my disembodied plastic encounter. Interestingly enough, two weeks later, at another Goodwill some 30 miles west of the prior thrift store, I stumbled upon these.

More doll heads! Okay…so… discuss:

• Is there some kind of donate-a-doll-head-pledge-drive that I didn’t hear about?
• What exactly is the demand for thrifted doll heads?
• And just how are these doll heads arbitrarily priced from $1.90 and $3.00, compared to the 97 cents from a neighboring Goodwill?

Ah, thrift stores. You house so many, many weird and wonderful artifacts. Your dutiful employees are so adept at pricing seemingly useless items that someone, somewhere will surely buy. Myself included.