Witness This

We have a real good culture at Autism Plus, you know that you are listened to and supported and part of an organisation thats making a real difference in peoples lives, thats what I like about working here. We never discriminate against anyone -it's good to be a part of an organisation like that.

We have a volunteer who happens to be a Jehovah Witness (she simply refers to herself as a 'Witness') It makes me smile because I always think of the Eminem; Slim Shady Song “Will the real slim shady please stand up/can I get a witness” or something along those lines I’m not a big Eminem fan so I did well there.

She is one of the nicest people I know. She has such a strong focus, she has found peace and that enables her to free her mind from the trivial things that bother us day to day and simply volunteers at our shop to do good. I really admire her for that.

I pulled her out a dress today and suggested she could wear it to one of her meetings but she informed me surprisingly that she can’t wear dresses or trousers she has to wear a skirt? It got me thinking that no doubt men will be expected to wear trousers (hopefully, skirts aren’t in fashion for men yet) so why can’t women? So it also got me thinking about work uniforms, a girl I know has just got a new job in a call centre and has to wear high heels, she can’t wear flats? That got me thinking even more that Autism Plus are arranging a high heel challenge in the future that you can be a part of; watch this space for more details!

I see you everywhere I go Mr Customer

Poor Steve, the Van Driver. The man who puts out endless bags and loyally follows them up a few days later in his little white van trawling the streets for goodies so we have something nice to sell in our shops. People used to give more but now rogue van collections are about, unauthorised (and not registered charities) following up the trail of charities like us and collecting the bags before we can do so. It’s frustrating and it’s wrong. Plain Jayne and Simple.  So Steve and Mike work together as a team week in week out trying to get us that stock. They don’t only do that, they also move stock between shops (stock rotation, usually stock that hasn’t sold in a shop after having it on the rails for a few weeks), moving furniture between our units and generally heavy lifting stuff. Today along with a volunteer they have been to collect some private donations from a farm, including a nice table and chairs and a leather sofa. So it’s not true what they say about white van men some of them do good!

One thing I must record for prosperity: there is a customer that I see everywhere. He rides a bike and is always drunk. I see him at work when he comes into the shop (fair enough you may think) but I then see him cycling down the road near where I live (30+ miles away) I see him sat on random benches in and around areas around the city, garden centres, parks etc EVERYWHERE. I parked under a bridge the other day in a town I grew up in and it was raining heavily and I was having a heated discussion with one of my friends and there he was strolling by, bike in hand. I almost believed I was stalking him, a series of unfortunate events actually. He once asked me if I was an exotic dancer, well if he sees me now he won’t think that because I’m hastily piling on the pounds and I have a wedding to go to soon. Maybe hes God? Who knows, although that is blasphemy as God is definitely never drunk. Except when he made Cliff Richard.

You must have all gone t’Seaside t’do sea fishing and see the sea.

Bank Holiday Monday - seems so long ago. We opened that day, I had some strange questions like “do you know if the banks are open today?” I really do doubt some people are indeed real and not bad robots that have been programmed to confuse us all.

No one was about, but it had been raining so I wouldn’t risk coming out unless I needed to or I’d spend a few hours in a nice museum getting told off for touching the exhibitions.

One thing I am not interested in doing but I know a lot of our customers are fanaticals over them they are...wait for it......jigsaw puzzles, yes imagine finding a wonderful puzzle with a nice scene on it, maybe a thatch cottage with some nice bluebells and a terrier?

Preferably 500 pieces so it fits on your bistro table, rushing through rush hour traffic to get home, finding all the corners first, oh wait you bought it from a charity shop and there is a piece missing..What an anti-climax worse still if it’s not complete what are you supposed to do with it? It’s a bit like fishing to me, pointless. Unless your going to eat the fish or if you are a goat you may eat the puzzle pieces. I tell our customers that if we have sold one with a piece missing I tell them a goat must have eaten it because one volunteers in our shop. Seriously though, we usually get told if they have pieces missing and if they do we don’t sell them. So it’s hardly ever we get complaints- our customers often do our quality control for us. 

Some of the staff didn’t turn in today, and so we did have a chance to tidy the shop and do some re-merchandising for summer. Customers notice it right away and they tend to start buying in bulk again and then it dies down when they think they’ve seen everything (even though we put over a 100 items out a day, that can seem a lot but can easily get lost with older stock that they can oversee it.)

So the trick is, keeping it fresh just like your fish. Two women had an argument today over some lace doilies, I left them to it they were older ladies and I weren’t risking a citizen’s arrest, honestly though do you know anyone that has ever made a citizen’s arrest? If you read this and have indeed witnessed one please state when, where and details I am very interested in the procedures and protocols for this.

Big girls blouse

Knowing your customer is an art, actually it’s a science, no it’s a pain.

It’s one of the hardest things to work out in a field like this, dealing with second hand goods. You have to know what is current and in fashion and even if you do your not always guaranteed to be able to offer your customer that, and to be honest they don’t expect it.

They expect quality, quirky finds and bargains. Something we try and offer all the time.  I’ve been into some charity shops in the past and they are old fashioned, yes their customers may be an older generation but their alienating the younger audience and those who are likely to offer you their footfall. Of course we and other charities appreciate all customers and you will always attract the mature & wiser customers but it’s the younger ones that need a little coaching and that’s where your window displays come in.

It may be a bit controversial to say a lot of charity shops have little old ladies behind the till and 1970's dresses on the mannequins but most people expect that when they come into a charity shop. Well not ours, yes we have our little old lady’s who are full of personality but we have a selection of volunteers (I make them sound like a box of chocolates- yum!) over a range of ages that bring some nice dynamics and variety to the shop and our customers, in turn increasing our customer base. 

Back to the windows, we try and keep it modern, clean and bright...Oh and fashionable. Some of the older volunteers dress the mannequins more fashionable (in my eyes) than some of the younger staff we have had!

I’ve been shocked in the past when I’ve given them the task of dressing the mannequins and they walk off leaving baggy floral department store blouses on!

The title of my blog today is about big girls blouses. We just don’t get enough to be honest and bigger clothing sells better than anything! Bring it in girlies don’t be afraid to empty that wardrobe after your super weight loss triumph - bag it up and drop it in. Cheers.