I am done with giving donations to the DAV thrift store. My last two experiences have been less than pleasant.
The last time I went with donations, I had my two-year-old son with me, and I needed help from the man who takes in the donations to get a large item from my car. I asked the cashier to get the man, and I got a very snotty, "He's not here. There's no one to help you." I said, "OK. Well, you know you have a bunch of donations sitting outside, getting wet in the rain? If you want, I can put my son in this cart and go bring those in for you." The cashier said, "No, that's not allowed." I said, "Well, it sucks that all of that stuff is getting ruined out there." Her reply was, "Oh well, I don't care." I told her, "That makes me not want to bring stuff here anymore!" and I drove all the way down to Greenwood to take my donations to the Goodwill there, where they actually seem to give a flying fig.
Last night, I had some other stuff to get rid of, so I decided to give the DAV one more chance. They used to be open until 8, but they recently changed their hours and I got there just as they were closing. So I couldn't take my donations inside; I had to put them in their outside bins. Alas, the bins were so full that I couldn't get the box I had brought in the bin in one piece. So, I started taking stuff out of the box and putting it in the bin piece by piece. A guy who works there came out of the store to lock up. He very rudely said, "Are you putting little things in their loose? Don't do that! It takes forever to get things out of there when you do that!" And I thought it, but I didn't say it..."Look jerk, isn't that what you get PAID to do? Shut up! Besides, it's YOUR fault that I couldn't get the whole box in there, since you didn't do your job and empty out the bins!"
I'm not taking them any more stuff. On top of the staff being too rude for words, the store is filthy and disorganized, and overpriced as far as thrift stores go. I also have my doubts as to how much the DAV thrift store REALLY helps Disabled American Veterans. The people who work there are all able-bodied people who couldn't possibly be disabled veterans. Half your donations will wind up in the dumpster because they are too apathetic to bring them inside. And they'll chew you a new one for actually trying to help them out with your donations.
Edited to add: NOW they have a sign up by their register that says $5.00 minimum purchase to use your credit card. This is ILLEGAL and a violation of the merchant agreement with Visa and MasterCard.
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