June 21, 2012

More Books than Carter's Little Liver Pills








Back room books before the biggest donation ever arrived.
 

Himself:  Went to the gym over his own objections.

Herself:  A store meeting this morning that’s serving us breakfast.  Skipping the poetry group at the Mexican place as their food no longer agrees with me.

Reading:  Finished that last Dorothy Gilman, now on to several new finds just arrived from ABE books.  For me, the biggest luxury of all is being able to afford to buy used books.

Balance:  Being able to read while the Geezer watched “John Carter.”  Awards:  I really appreciate being given the Sunshine award.  I don't accept those that say I have to pass something on to ten more wonderful folks.  It's not that you all are not wonderful, it's that chain letters and awards are an anathema to me.

I try to get to the store early on Wednesdays and Fridays to photograph the newest stuff before the crowds come in.  Facebook, where I post the store pictures, sends us a weekly update.  I’ve noted that there’s a rise in traffic whenever I post pictures. 

Monday I photographed purses.  Just to balance things out a little, yesterday I posted pictures of shoes.  Remember when purses and shoes had to be coordinated? 

After the first thing photos, I discovered that the sorter person wasn’t going to be coming in.  Normally that’s no problem.  I fill the bookshelves then I sort.  This day we had something unusual happen.  A man came in with a whole car load of books.  Coffee table books.  It was the most massive donation of books that I’d ever seen.  Then he continued filling up the back room.

“Yes, we’d love to have all the books,” I told him hoping I could get partially through them before time to get home.

“My daughter came down and is cleaning out her mom’s hoarding,” he told me.  “We took one load of books to (another thrift organization), and they just threw them in bins.  I didn’t want that.”

I didn’t blame him.

It was Joanie’s day to come price books.  As the man began bringing in clothes and knickknacks, I put books out so she could price them.  I stacked them everywhere, some places half way to the ceiling.  As they continued unloading, I put two shelves of cookbooks out before I started sorting.  Front of the shop volunteers came back and sorted too.  Bob, out pricer, powered through despite a pulled muscle. 

For me, confusion was the order of the day.  At first I attempted some level of control as I sorted.  With everyone doing things their own way, I gave up and just let everyone do their own thing while envying Bob his autonomy.  No one said, “I don’t sort pants” to him. 

When I left for home, the back of the store looked pretty good, and in the front the man was bringing in the next giant load. 

Gee.  I forgot to tell him that we take furniture too.

9 comments:

  1. That sounds like physical work to me. Given how much you enjoy books you probably enjoyed every minute of it.

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  2. Sounds like he was cleaning out his entire house! Holy smokes!

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  3. Oh, dear, it looks like my house!

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  4. Sounds exhausting but I am glad you have people who like to do it!

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  5. I hope all the books find a good home. I have a ton of books no one in my family will want after I am gone. Except for cookbooks and gardening books, I am sticking to Kindle these days. Dianne

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  6. That sounds like Paradise...except for the heavy lifting, sorting and shelving....I'm sure you got some great books that the customers are going to love....and maybe a mystery or two for you as well?

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  7. My mother used to say that there were "more ____s than Carter has Liver pills." I don't think I have ever heard anyone else use that phrase!
    Also, I agree about the chain letter awards.
    Glad to hear that you are considered the better organization for donations!

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  8. I can just see my own daughters, Hubby too, doing this with my load of books someday. I hope they find a book lover like you to sort them out and give them proper respect! As for the man sorter (Bob) I thought of the guy I worked with with a homeless organization here. We were to sort clothes according to size as well as we could, plus female versus male. Surprised me how men often don't even know the difference between men's and women's clothes (stuff like which side buttons/zippers are on). He was putting teen sized girls slim jeans on a table for grown men. Oh yi yi!

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  9. Btw, I am interested to know what G thought of John Carter. It's been totally lambasted in most reviews!

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