Off The Cuff

Now For The Nasty Side Of The Holidays

Posted by: From Arkansas in Are You Kidding Me?, Charities, It's A Rant, Shame of America on Dec 09 2007

Welcome back!

Except for the big G, the Shame of America Awards have not been going out just lately but it’s due. So, here is the latest in the Shame of America awards that needs to be mentioned.

On one of the local news reports recently, they had a story about people who were shopping at the local charity stores. Now most people who shop there do so when the store is open and they actually pay for what they take. Not so these people. These people wait until the store is closed, go up to the donation bins or into the donation areas, even ones that have been enclosed by fence, and take what they like.

The camera crew and reporter decided to track some of the donated items. For instance, there was a television set with remote placed there by a man who said that the tv worked fine. He simply wanted to give something for the holiday and this was his idea of how to do it. The crew were able to see people coming in to pick up the television. In fact, it was placed in several cars, trucks and vans throughout the day. The reporter would come out of the store’s back door, confront the person or people and ask them what they were doing with the television set. People went all the way from taking it back out and saying it was their donation to telling the reporter that it was in their car to get fixed or that they had recently bought it.

The main thing that the reporter heard when asked why they were taking things that did not belong to them were excuses. The excuses ranged from “It’s a donation and I need it.” to “I didn’t know it was illegal” to “This guy isn’t with me. I picked him up on the side of the road.”…that was while the camera crew could see the items in the car that had been picked up. The reporter was able to tell the people, one after another, that the theft of the items at this charity store was actually illegal and that they could go to jail for it. Most of the people blew that part off and said that they had no idea that it was illegal despite the signs all over the wall stating that it was illegal to take anything from that place. (The reporter turned the license plates from the cars into police.)

So, the Shame of America Award goes out to the slime that decides to take what is not theirs from a donation bin at a charity operated store. Those folks who could have had a happy Christmas can go without while you have a new TV set and lots of clothes. Aren’t you the nice person.

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