To think I got ripped off in the charity shop?

I would have interpreted it exactly as the shop assistant did. That each pair was a set at £2. Quite a few people have said they presume a set would be more than 2 items but I'm not sure why as things can be a set of one.

Well I'm going to be pedantic too now, OP, by picking holes in your message and showing that even the best people make mistakes.

You refer to the items in question as "cushion covers", then later on as "pillows" and later still as "cushions".

So, while you're mulling over whether or not the word "set" is not to be used interchangeably with a "pair", you could also ask yourself why "cushions covers", "pillows", and "cushions" all mean the same. I'm not having a go at you, I am drawing your attention to the fact that people make errors.

They are volunteers, often new to it. They're not trying to diddle you. Give them a break, right or wrong. You got a bargain either way.

There's no way I would have thought all 4 cushions where only £2 especially with the others being separate, thats just seems pretty obvious to me.

Even as I read it I was thinking you where going to moan you where charged for 3 not 2 as the second set wasn't fastened together because you couldn't possibly think its 1 grouping.

They were probably put out onto the shop floor clipped and tagged. I work in a charity shop and we often fine items with the tags/label ripped off, items dumped in random places, things opened and broken. Some people have less respect for the stock because it's "just" a charity shop.

(One of my favourite is telling people the price on an item is wrong because I priced it and put it out less than 10 minutes before. No, that Zara dress with the store tags still on saying £50 was not priced as a £1 toy. I priced it at £7, do you want it or not? No, £7 for a new dress worth seven times that amount is not a rip off.)

You mention being autistic, and this is something I am used to dealing with, though of course it varies from person to person. This may or may not be what is preventing you from seeing the bigger picture.

You are focusing on the fact that the cushion covers said "set" and you think it's fair to think that means all four and not two.

However, you could think, overthink, and debate that one for the rest of your life and it will still be subjective. Why do you have to be "right"?

Work with what you do know, which is that chazza shops are run by unpaid volunteers, the likes of whom may have some sort of difficulties too, which means they have displayed something incorrectly. They may be perfectly fine, but just got it wrong when they wrote the ticket. Or maybe the person on the till got it wrong and in fact it should have been £2 for four cushion covers. Who knows - and why does it even matter? And I mean that last point genuinely - talk to me about why this is a problem, so I can better understand why it's on your mind.

Fact is an unpaid person working in a charity shop told you that four cushion covers would cost you £4. To have argued it would have been embarrassing, and clearly you realised that which is why you paid up & left. You paid the bargain price of £1 per cushion cover, and you supported a charity. There have been times where I've paid more for things in a charity shop because I told them they were underpriced. Conversely, I've not bought a great many things because they were very much overpriced, but that's another story.

That's nothing compared Tommy charity shop swindle earlier this year: I put on a bit of weight and wanted to try on a load of stuff but they don't have changing rooms so I bought about 20+ things for around £60-70

Went home and tried it all on - happy to keep about half of it but had £30 worth of stuff to refund which I was assured when I paid would be ok if I kept the receipt.

I took it all back, they did the refund but when I got home I realised they'd actually charged me again for all the items!!! So I paid more like £100 and this time didn't have a receipt or any goods to take back. Luckily, I can afford it plus I still saved a fortune on what I needed to spend if I'd bought it new - so decided to write it off as a super generous donation instead!!!

If it helps, think of it like people. You can have a family of 2 people, even though we'd generally refer to 2 people as a couple.

2 things is a pair, but that doesn't stop it being a set of 2.

Enjoy your new things:)

A pair is a set of two, but I understand why that might cause confusion.

I don't know. It seems quite logical to me. If two clipped together are £2.00 then the other two, loose, cushion covers are also going to be £2.00, as 50 pence each seems low even for a charity shop.

I realise you said you were only kidding and you're happy with your bargain!

You don't understand about being autistic, clearly! 😂

It's for the two, they just hadn't got round to tagging the others. Couldn't get excited about it, see it as a donation to charity

Yes, you are right. I am autistic and this would play on my mind too!

If this makes you despair for humanity I really hope you never watch the news!

For the love of (insert deity of you choice). You got cushion covers you liked for £1 each. Whilst doing so, you benefitted your karma by donating to charity. The people who work in the shop are doing so on voluntary basis - if they didn't you wouldn't have got the cushion covers for £1 each.

I think you should go off and seriously reflect on why you feel so put out about what you perceive to the unfairness of the situation that you feel the need to spend time posting about it on an internet forum.

And why anyone is seriously replying about how said cushion covers should have been clipped and priced is completely baffling to me. I completely despair about humanity.

They possibly had been put out clipped into two pairs. Customers sometimes don’t always leave things as they find them. A volunteer may have written the tag, and thought ‘set’ could mean two. I agree ‘pair’ would have been clearer.

We find things pulled out of boxes, as an example, a couple of days ago there was a new staple gun set where the staples were all over the floor and the box all torn.

Its annoying but don't be mad at the workers in the shop. It's retail hell but for no wage. I know the post isn't too serious.

Maybe they used to be a set of six but a customer came in and only wanted two?

So they split them to save kerfuffle?

Misread about the others not being clipped together, sorry!

In that case, I'd probably think they'd somehow become loose too.

I think they must have been in sets of 2 and the tag had come off the other set maybe?

I agree, unless it says "set of 2"