"Your clothes are junk"

[nlbarber]

I did it to myself: got all excited at the prospect of getting a little cash by selling my too-large clothes at a consignment shop. A member of my Weight Watchers meeting told me about the store, and how enthusiastic they were about plus-size clothing. So last night I ironed a few things so they looked a little better, put everything on throw-away hangers, and then this afternoon showed up at the store with 20 items (blouses, dresses, some slacks) for them to take a look at.

I brought in one armload, explained that I was a first-timer, and went back to the car for the rest. By the time I got back, one of the store employees was shoving the first lot back at me and explained that there were not enough items in the set that they would take for them to open an account for me. She said "we ask that items be from the last 3 years" and "these items don't do well here". And she declined to look at the second set of clothes, just casting an eye on them from behind the counter and saying "those too".

Decoding this, knowing that a number of the items she looked at were purchased last summer, I think she was trying to tell me "your clothes are too inexpensive for us to carry" or maybe, "this stuff is cheap junk". She definitely let me know I should not try to bring in anything else.

Rationally, I know I don't spend a great deal on clothes, so even the stuff that is "nicer" and was worn only once or twice could easily not be what they want. And I'm sure that many people do better with the polite "these items don't do well here" over "these items are too inexpensive for our store". But the whole experience really grated--just those feelings of rejection, y'know?

Lessons learned: check out store stock before attempting to place items there. And plan to go back to donating most of the too-large wardrobe to charity.

Comments

[neonnurse.livejournal.com]

That was kind of a bummer, huh? Maybe you just got the bitchy, picky clerk. Giving the clothes to the less fortunate is nice, though.

[hornedhopper.livejournal.com]

Ohhheeewww...I believe this *hilt* between my shoulderblades belongs to *yeeewwww!?"

Wow, what a nasty person! Don't let someone like that get your goat, nlbarber; Her Insidiousness isn't worth it. I truly, heartily dislike contact with persons like that.

How sad for the other people who might have really *liked* the clothing that she took that option away from them. She's probably been turning down other people's clothing items, as well, and who is she to declare herself the Arbiter of Fashion, anyway???

Thanks also for the good wishes for Alec!

[nlbarber]

I think I'd have taken it much better if she'd just said (in words!) "we stock higher-priced clothing than this." Better yet, I wish they'd offered some guidelines about that when I called, along with their rules about how many items to bring and having everything on hangers. Maybe I'm unusual in this attitude...nah.

[hedda62.livejournal.com]

We've had some similar experiences at consignment stores around here. A local one was very pleased a few years ago to get my late mother-in-law's plus-size clothing, which was nice stuff, not designer label but from well-known catalogers. We called them again when we had more clothes that needed to go, and now they only take designer labels, and clothes less than three years old.

Maybe sometimes there are just too many people being successful at losing weight!

[ann-mcn.livejournal.com]

Gee, talk about making you feel useless.

I took several bags of clothes (finally got the boys to prune their bedroom) to St. Vincent DePaul, and the man who helped me gave me about 3 dozen baskets left from someone else. Pretty baskets, of all sorts. Now I can decorate with them!

[filkferengi]

This person was obviously bereft of clue. Any more than you can help, don't let her lacks bring you down. I've seen your stuff; it's nice. Would anything fit me? Goodness knows, with my lack of height, skirt length certainly wouldn't be a problem.

If you want to perk yourself up, I'd suggest a visit to my house. You can make *lots* of new friends & get a nice workout lugging them home; how's that for fun? ;) Maybe we could work out a trade.