Charity shop manager- AMA

[iwishi]

I'm the manager in a charity shop in the U.K. I won't say specifically but it has British in the name. AMA!

Also- very random- but apparently John Lewis has a 72% success rate on discounts for hagglers- I'd never chance it but who knew!

@Schwibble if you elaborate I may be able to answer?

How do you treat your volunteers? Just asking because I worked in a charity shop for over a year and for the past few months she started having no patience, huffing and puffing about things, I asked her to explain something again she began doing so and as you would in normal communication I was acknowledging that I was listening by going yes, yes, OK and she started her behaviour and I asked her why she did it, she said I wasn't listening and I said she had been like it for ages and other volunteers had commented and I walked out. I never had an apology or anything! It got me wondering how staff in other charity shops are treated.

@fantasmasgoria1 to be honest, the way I personally look at it is they're working for free. Therefore, I'm generally very polite and patient (I would say so anyway). I wouldn't ask them to do anything I wouldn't do and I actually do the worst jobs myself eg if the loos need cleaned because I wouldn't ask someone to do it for free. It could take me a few times to get the hang of something (esp on the till) so I just guide them through it if there's an issue.

I wish I had worked for you!

@fantasmasgoria1 so do I!

@iwishi as in being unkind to and making judgements about other volunteers, e.g. the newer, younger volunteers, not providing training and being expected just to get on with it, and there being nasty little cliques in the branch overall, not just in the shop.

@Schwibble the thing is, we only have a few (3 atm) and they all get on really well, despite age differences. However, I'd squash it ASAP and if there were bullies and didn't change, they'd be gone. Not having any nastiness in our shop, defeats the whole point of charity. No-one is better than anyone else.

@iwishi thank you. Sadly my experience seems to be one of back stabbing and cliques, the branch manager is very dismissive and doesn't want to know, in fact she defends the nasty members, who imo probably feel threatened by younger, fresh volunteers. I'd heard bullying is rife in the charity volunteer sector, sadly I've now discovered that for myself and it's enough to make me consider leaving a charity I love.

I accidentally donated a soft toy to charity - realised my error at once and returned to shop - within an hour - to be told it had been already sold . It was a Disney Heimlich caterpillar.
Had to buy another for ( then teenaged) daughter .
Swift turnaround- is that typical ?

On a comical note my sister borrowed two DVD's from me - jean de Florette and Manon des Sources .
About a year later I asked her for them .
She confessed they had become lost but had amazingly found two good copies at her local charity shop . You've guessed it - when she gave them to me they had my name labels inside .

@MrsRufusdog789 very rare to be sorted and sold within an hour for clothes but teddies do fly out so that wouldn't shock me. Particularly Disney. That DVD story is funny

@Schwibble god I thought that was just the shop I volunteered in! I eventually left because the other volunteers bullied me until I was terrified to go in

Another girl in the shop ended up in tears when an older volunteer blamed her for the toilet being clogged - all because the young girl had a disability! It was nothing to do with her!

I presume you don't wash the clothes. Do you spray them with anything:? Clothes from my local shop are always heavily perfumed Arnt things like been bugs a risk?

Sorry i meant bed bugs

@AllStarBySmashMouth that's awful! Glad it's not just me experiencing the nastiness.

@Scarecrow2016 we steam every piece of clothing before it hits shop floor- doesn't matter if people insist it's just been washed or not

How much unpaid work do you do on top of your paid hours?

How long have you been manager for?

@covetingthepreciousthings about equivalent to an extra day a week including morning/evening and having to go in on my days off. About two years now.

I bet all the volunteers snaffle the best stuff themselves or for eBay! N old friend was a star gift giver because of her 'job'!

Do you or any of your team have extra knowledge about collectables and china marks etc? Are you able to tell between the 'ordinary' and the 'actually worth quite a lot' and do you get any training for pricing items like that?

Any good managed won't allow staff to buy the best stuff cheaply .. as I said above my sister is a manager and I have to pay shop floor prices .. as do all her staff / volunteers minus 10%..

What do you wash the clothes with op? They always smell like they have been washed in perfume.

Clothes aren't washed .. it wouldn't be cost effective .. they just get steamed and maybe sprayed with a Febreze if they have an odour .

@TakeAChanseyOnMe

I was shocked to find out that people actually haggle in charity shops!

Haggling goes both ways! I was in a charity shop and there was a book I had been looking for for years in a "last chance" box. They wanted 29p for a paperback that was falling apart. Because I had spent such a long time looking for it I was happy to pay a pound. The manager argued that she should give me the change as the book wasn't worth a pound. But it was to me! I let her run the transaction through her till so it would balance and left the change on the counter.

(it was a 1960s reprint of a collection from the 1930s on ghost stories featuring cricket - great tales in it and I still have it.)