Wednesday, April 18, 2012

Cleanin' Out The Closet

When I got to work today I learned that the mall office had decided to clean out a closet close to the Customer Service desk.  Our desk uses part of the closet, but the majority of the stuff in there belongs to other departments. It doesn't look like it's been straightened up for years.

I watched my boss move our things to another area, and then the maintenance department loaded up a flatbed and filled a large tilt truck with things they wanted to keep. When they were done there was still a lot of stuff left.  I asked what was going to happen to it (because I HATE to see things go to the landfill!). Nobody could give me a straight answer.

I knew there was a rack on the wall of the closet that held old Security shirts, and volunteered to take them to a thrift store so they wouldn’t get thrown away.  My boss filled four trash bags with the shirts, along with a couple of windbreakers and some holiday ties. It was time for my break, but I thought I'd take the bags to my car first, making two trips with two bags each trip.

One problem---the Customer Service desk isn’t close to where I'd parked my car.

The bags weren’t heavy (maybe about 20 pounds each), but by time I walked up a flight of stairs, past a half-dozen stores, down a hall to get to the parking garage, then up another flight-and-a-half to get to the level where my car was I was breathing heavily and my shoulders were on fire.

I was a wide load on the stairs. At one point I had to turn sideways to let a man pass in the other direction. Walking down the mall corridor wasn't a problem, nor was the parking garage steps.  The second trip I knew what I was in for. This time I didn’t have a problem getting upstairs, but got stuck behind some slow-walking women on the way out.  I tried holding the bags in different ways, so both my biceps and triceps got a workout.

After I put the bags in the car I didn't bother locking the doors; if someone needed a large quantity of shirts that badly they were welcome to them. By time I got home and ate dinner it was too late to take the bags to the store tonight, so they'll get to ride back to work with me and I'll drop them off tomorrow on the way home.

3 comments:

  1. It's very good of you to do this.

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  2. sounds like that closet was long overdue for a cleaning!

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  3. Kathy you're extremely thoughtful and good for you for doing this. There's so many people who I am sure will appreciate having a shirt or a windbreaker who might have otherwise gone without.

    When I was in Pukatja last month the Salvation Army brought in a semi truck full of furniture and used clothing, the clothing sold for $1 an item and the people who live on the lands were extremely happy to do their shopping, the nearest store to them where they can go and buy new clothing (when and if they can afford to) is 5 hours away, most people don't have the transportation to just run into town, nor the funds as I mentioned. So it's people just like you who make a difference, without the clothing to 'sell' the Salvation Army would not be able to help out those in need. Hats off to you!

    Have a wonderful weekend, cheers.

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