The War Waged at Goodwill

(This is a picture of the actual store... well, the nicer one)

After dropping off Charla at preschool, Leora and I headed to Goodwill to find some cheap clothes to make scarecrows. There are 2 Goodwills near us. One is actually very nice, selling only gently used items and is quite clean. The other one is basically a big cement floor room that looks like it got all the rejects from the other Goodwill. The only organization is racks for the clothes and large frames with wheels that big plastic tubs are set in. In the tubs you find absolutely anything. Well, there is an area with just shoes, but there are probably over a thousand shoes and maybe 20 are somehow tied to their match.

I do have a point...

I chose to go to the less organized one because no item of clothing (from socks to shirts to suits) is priced over $1.47. I had browsed for a while, also looking for Christmas decorations I could use for the Ward Christmas party, when this announcement came over the PA. A man was welcoming everyone to the store and was reminding all to be courteous of each other and to basically "play fair." I realized there was a crowd forming near this empty area of the floor. Then the battle began...

Several frames of tubs filled with newly donated merchandise were rolled onto the floor. Leora and I watched in awe as people began leaping towards the bins, grabbing anything their hands touched, shoving each other out of the way. Once the bins were in place, the whole store was filled with the clatter of items being rummaged through and then cast aside; things were literally flying! I was safe behind the shoe bin (hopelessly searching for the match to a nice pair of snow boots Gregory would fit in this winter). I actually laughed at the scene of bargain carnage.

I even got brave and squeezed in to grab several large red Christmas bows. It was quite the sight!