Thrift Stories

A few doors down from the store was a Taqueria that served giant burritos. I do not eat meat, so I cannot comment on the tasteyness of these burritos, but it seemed like someone within a 10 foot radius was always eating one, so they must have been good. I was walking down the street after getting my coffee waiting for my afternoon shift to start when suddenly someone runs by and dashes into the taqueria. "Damn," I say to myself, "They must really want a burrito!" I am looking into the window, wondering how hungry is this guy, because he was running at mach 3. Suddenly a cop runs into the store, and my first thought is "Damn, he must really want a burrito too!". After a few minutes, 4 or 5 cop cars speed down the one way street in front of the store and block traffic. Out of the cars run around 12 officers, and three more run by on foot and into the Taqueria. "DAMN!", I say to myself, "EVERYONE REALLY WANTS A BURRITO!". My awe at the p...

The store I worked at had a basement where people could go down and shop. There was the mens and kids departments, housewares, books and furniture. There was a lot of sketchy stuff that would go on down there, and this is one such story. So it was around 10:00pm and after a long day, the manager and I were finally ready to head home. The lights were off in the basement and our jackets were on the counters. We were at the front of the store closing out registers when I herd a jingling, like metal was being rattled. I paid it little mind as I continued working, but then I herd it again. Starting to get a little perplexed, I brought it to the attention of the manager. It wasn't consistent though, so by the time I brought it up it had already stopped. However, a few minutes later it happened again, and this time we both noticed it. We both did a quick sweep of the top floor, and to no surprise there was no one upstairs.  As the noise continued, we both looked at each other, as we cam...

So the company I worked for sold used shoes. Due to the fact that there was no way for us to mark shoes in a way that would prove that the shoes were from our store, all sales were final. One day I was coming back from break and I noticed that there was a commotion at the register. Turns out a women was trying to return a pair of shoes and was upset over the fact that we didn’t do return on them. She was overly irate, and the situation escalated as the line grew. Finally realizing that the manager would not be budging on the return, she lost it. Tearing her hand back, she swings the bag holding the shoes horizontally, trying to knock over the register. She totally misses, and the swing has enough force to wrap behind her and hit the customer behind her directly in the wind pipe. Realizing she just committed an assault crime, she quickly left the store with her single shoe as everyone in the front of the store stood in a mixture or confusion and shock. After talking to the man who was ...

Welcome to the Thrift Stories blog! I have been working at various thrift stores for the past 8+ years. I have to say right up front that, for the most part, I’ve enjoyed my jobs for various companies and locations. Working at thrift stores can really afford you a unique atitude and work ethic that might not happen at other jobs. However, some of the jobs I’ve had have caused quite a few “issues”. That’s where the blog comes into play. From drug busts at neighboring stores to a active hand grenad, I’ve experienced quite a few things, and I’d like to share them with you. The object of the blog isn’t to bad mouth anyone or any place. Rather, the blog exsists to share some crazy, true life stories from one of the craziest jobs I’ve ever had. Granted, sometimes I would have much rather been working a different job. But that, once again, is not the focus for this blog. My opinion on various inner workings of different thrift store companies will NEVER be brought up on this blog. So si...