Unfriendly staff in charity shops

That's been my experience at a host of different charity shops.

The comments here are a big surprise - I thought it was just me!

And no, I don't agree that shops can vary everywhere with staff and attitude. Charity shops must be different, they would have nothing to sell without donations and probably not enough staff to do a half decent job without the kindness and time of their volunteers.

We don't have such shops in France, more's the pity, but there are a few places to donate and it's always very much appreciated. Since an absence of greetings, please and thank you here in France is almost a criminal offence.....courtesy is always expected and shown.

I went with armfuls of good 'stuff' into a shop in the South of England a few years ago. Some almost new possessions of my late Mother. A beautiful, pristine Rollator/walker, pretty walking sticks and other bits and pieces. After being initially ignored, one of the staff interrupted her gossiping with a 'just leave it down there' before turning away and continuing to chat. What do you say? It's really difficult to be in combat mode when you're grieving.

Nobody should be allowed to do that work if they don't like people, if they resent giving their time and they can't even say thank you for the ability of the charity to profit from donations.

We read often of Gransnetters 'charity shop work', what hard work it can be, but we hear of the pride they show in their work and what they try to do for others. I actually wondered at the time what they would think if they could have seen what happened !

That's just mean when you are donating such personal stuff.

Some years ago I had good clothing and bedding to donate. Clean and nearly new. Bell tinkled as we went in, staff standing chatting through the back. They didn't even come out to acknowledge us! It wasn't until my husband arrived with the third bag, that a crabbitt woman appeared and barked at me ' What's this?' By this time I'd had enough and barked back ' Donations, but nobody appeared when we came in'. On that, I said to my husband ' Let's go, I've had quite enough' and we left. I've never been back. I'd like to add I volunteered in a charity shop for three years and the staff I worked with were truly lovely people. Never, ever would we ignore people or talk to them like that.

You should come to my charity shop where I have been volunteering for nearly a decade and absolutely love it. All my colleagues and I go out of our way to be helpful and cheery. Giving them a welcome hello when they come in. On this weeks shift I helped a lady bring a number of bags in from her car. If a customer is looking for something in particular which is not on the shop floor, we always check in the back and sometimes find what they are looking for. That worked for another customer this week. And I always hold the door open of there is a child buggy or someone appears mobility challenged. It's a natural thing to do. Often a customer enjoys a little chat at the til. I always go home at the end of the day feeling happy

I like our op shops better than calling them charity shops! Op= opportunity, not so patronising.

MarthaJolly that sounds like my charity shop I too have worked there 10 years last Christmas We all get on have such a laugh and know the regulars we have a great rapport with most (except the shop lifters)
We do occassionally have to stop the donations for a few hours as we get so many and people are cross but we literally can be falling over a mountain of black bags One lady brought a large very rusty step ladder the other day and the boss said I m so sorry but I can’t take that (our huge bin emptied twice a week was already overflowing) she was so cross she walked out and dumped it right in our entrance Another lady brought one piece of jigsaw in and said she found this after she donated some jigsaws last week and was really really annoyed because we couldn’t help her reunite it with her jigsaw!!!
Some of the donation contain dirty nappies, worn knickers
recently a half eaten pizza but we wash our hands and get on
Everyone is thanked for their donations of course that’s a basic
Please don’t judge us all the same

Haha ‘op shop’ would translate in my mind to cop shop Nanna8

I think it simply is the luck of the draw.
One I visit has smily, chatty staff, another is strictly -business, another has a lady with a permanent air of disgruntlement!
However, they do sterling work, raising money for good causes, recycling goods that might otherwise end in landfill, and saving the thrifty money.
Recently, I have bought three new bedside cabinets from one such, and returned with my old ones: all were priced up and sold very promptly. Great work, charity shop volunteers.

I had a similar experience a while ago before a big charity shop opened in our town and I had to travel to the next town. I too phoned to see if they were accepting donations and the person who answered was quite curt, when I went in the shop I was ignored at first then when I said I had donations the person I spoke to said to take them round to the back, no thanks or much communication. So now I either put things in bags we get through the door regularly, or in a bin inside Dunelm. Non clothing items we can take to a British Heart Foundation shop which opened a couple of months ago, it is the only charity shop in our town and they were quite pleasant when we recently dropped some stuff off.

Several of our local charity shops employ some staff with special needs who appear to be distant.

One or two people have occasional experience of rude or unhelpful and ungrateful staff in one shop and this results in a thread headed: ^ Unfriendly staff in charity shops^

You will occasionally meet unfriendly people anywhere from your local charity shop, to your local chippy, chemist, garage, post office, bank, bus stop - absolutely anywhere.

Over the last month we have been downsizing and moving and I have taken stuff to about 10 different charity shops in 3 different local towns. On one or two occasions they have told me that they couldn't take certain types of goods, or that they could only accept donations between certain hours, but all the staff I dealt with were courteous, charming and grateful for my offerngs.

Mine is only anecdotal evidence, all though the sample size is reasonable, but, geographically limited, but would never generalise from a sample of 1.

I feel quite depressed about the lack of manners in the UK. We go to France annually for 5 weeks and the difference is incredible. Strangers greet each other with a Bonjour, and people are very polite. Always a smile from shop workers.

I noticed in the local boulangerie English tourists speaking French but not adding a s'ils vous plait or merci. I always do that and I can sense it is appreciated.

Incidentally there is a charity shop in Sarlat. Popped in there and got a warm welcome.

I notice on our village Facebook - people post wanting a plumber/electrician/gardener/cleaner etc no please or thank you. Lazy as well because if they did a search they will see recommendations from a week or two earlier.

I suppose it's the norm now.

It's a strange old world the charity shop. There are many of them in my area and you could cut the atmosphere with a knife in some of them. No Good Morning, nothing.

It seems to have changed from a simple, kind idea into something else. Volunteers get fed up with dealing with fly tipping and so on. For some reason the Hospice ones are always nice.

Our local charity shops ask if you do Gift Aid when you take in donations, so yes, you are always acknowledged and thanked.

But like everywhere, some are more ‘people’ person than others.

I think that many charity shops are overwhelmed with the sheer quantity of donations they receive. We think we are doing them a favour by donating, but as there is a bit of a trend at the moment for buying less and simplifying our lives, the whole of the UK is doing the same thing at the same time. Clothes in particular are just too plentiful in supply.

There’s no call for rudeness, obviously, but I can understand why the volunteers would feel ambivalent about more donations coming in if they are in that position - locally we’ve reached the point where people ask on the community Facebook Group which charity shops are taking clothes before they offload them.

mrsmeldrew

I feel quite depressed about the lack of manners in the UK. We go to France annually for 5 weeks and the difference is incredible. Strangers greet each other with a Bonjour, and people are very polite. Always a smile from shop workers.

I noticed in the local boulangerie English tourists speaking French but not adding a s'ils vous plait or merci. I always do that and I can sense it is appreciated.

Incidentally there is a charity shop in Sarlat. Popped in there and got a warm welcome.

I notice on our village Facebook - people post wanting a plumber/electrician/gardener/cleaner etc no please or thank you. Lazy as well because if they did a search they will see recommendations from a week or two earlier.

I suppose it's the norm now.

I think France and the UK vary very much from region to region.

One of the things I was always told amused the French about the English was the way they kept saying 'please' and 'thank you' after everything. I was told in France you just asked for something in a courteous manner, without unnecessary pleases and thank you, and in Normandy, which has been our stamping ground for the last 40 years, that seems to be the rule.

However the French are far more formal and frequent in greetings and we have learnt[ to say 'Bon jour', Bon soir' etc when ever we go in and out of any establishment from shops, to hotels, to joining queues in the pharmacie.

Never heard of an Op Shop, but whether it's that or any other type of shop, manners and common courtesy cost nothing.

And what does your post even mean, Monica ? The OP started a thread asking for others’ experiences. This resulted in a mixed bag of comments. Posters are adults. With our many years between us, no one needs to be ‘told’ that they’ll find many sorts of shops can have rude or unhelpful staff. D’you think we’ve all just floated down the Mersey on a tea tray?

A charity shop hopefully raising money from donations and efforts of the public should at the very least endeavour to say thank you for the gifts. Kind donors are giving, providing stock, not picking up fish and chips.

People on any thread don’t need to have their own experiences dismissed or disrespected - and as in this case - according to their numbers of visits.
Discussion, Debate please - not Dismissal or Derision based on your own ‘findings’ and what YOU decide is correct.

I offered our local Sally Army a lovely sofa, various other items. Whilst there I had a look round, saw a nice butter dish & plastic oxo jug, they wanted £11, I only had £10. I asked could I have them for £10- no she flatly refused! I felt like saying don’t bother picking up the sofa, I’ll give it to the hospice. I Didn’t of course.

Mt61

I offered our local Sally Army a lovely sofa, various other items. Whilst there I had a look round, saw a nice butter dish & plastic oxo jug, they wanted £11, I only had £10. I asked could I have them for £10- no she flatly refused! I felt like saying don’t bother picking up the sofa, I’ll give it to the hospice. I Didn’t of course.

Oh & not much of a thanks, btw.

Grandmafrench

And what does your post even mean, Monica ? The OP started a thread asking for others’ experiences. This resulted in a mixed bag of comments. Posters are adults. With our many years between us, no one needs to be ‘told’ that they’ll find many sorts of shops can have rude or unhelpful staff. D’you think we’ve all just floated down the Mersey on a tea tray?

A charity shop hopefully raising money from donations and efforts of the public should at the very least endeavour to say thank you for the gifts. Kind donors are giving, providing stock, not picking up fish and chips.

People on any thread don’t need to have their own experiences dismissed or disrespected - and as in this case - according to their numbers of visits.
Discussion, Debate please - not Dismissal or Derision based on your own ‘findings’ and what YOU decide is correct.

I am still trying to work out why Monica’s post caused you to have such a strong reaction! She is always helpful and supportive and didn’t deserve your put-down!
I didn’t think she was dismissive or disrespectful, but I do think that maybe you were.

The charity shop I volunteer in nothing like some of you have experienced. It’s a local children’s charity and the staff are always friendly and helpful .and we get regular customers who stay for a chat .
We accept anything apart from duvets and pillows . And never turn people away . We do have a sign saying no donations after 4.30 became we want to provide a clear shop and back office for the staff the following day .
I always thank people for their donations and I’m very aware that some people are clearing a loved ones house and are quite emotional.
Our shop has easy parking so we get loads of donations and sometimes you can barely move for black bags and boxes . And we are very grateful for donations but
I do think people should think more about the condition of stuff they donate . It’s obvious that some people dump the contents of a cupboard or drawer into a box as you get used toiletries, dirty kitchen stuff and broken toys which we have to put in our bins . Plus dirty tatty clothes and shoes which go into recycling .
Regarding rude staff which isn’t acceptable. Most are volunteers and some have never had a customer facing job. So Perhaps don’t have people skills. We also have teenagers doing DOE .

I arrange the collections for our church fete. Everyone is thanked profusely, even those who know that their ‘donation ‘ should go to the tip! Everyone is then thanked again on Facebook.
I agree a lot of the charity shops around here have very miserable staff, but they are also struggling to recruit volunteers, so they are in a bit of a no win situation.

RedRidingHood

That's been my experience at a host of different charity shops.

LeBonCoin = we used it regularly