Charity shops. Their noses are turned upwards

THIRZAH

I once came across a charity shop that had a section labelled male authors and female authors. I did wonder how they classified George Eliot-female writing under man's name-or Nicky French-husband and wife team.

moneyistooshorttomention

Hermia wrote: »

I once went into a charity shop that had two bookcases and one was labelled 'books for women' and the other 'books for men'. In the 'books for women' case was romance, chick lit, celebrity memoirs and cookery. In the 'books for men' case was crime and thrillers, literary fiction, history, science, politics and basically all books that were on serious subjects or required an education to read. The woman behind the desk said that soooo many women had complained, but the manager was very old-fashioned and wouldn't change it!

OOOH! There would be "A Letter" to whoever was over that character complaining about such sexism in the 21st century and stating I would be telling everyone about this and refusing to go in the shop again until it was put right.

Hmmm...on the other hand - I might just go on the local Facebook page and expose that manageress/manager for being like that.....

On the other hand - I might just find a quiet hour or so and whip off the "Men/Women" labels and mix the books up to just be "People" books.

It would very much depend what mood I was in - but I would certainly do at least one of those things - rather than letting the manageress/manager get away with that.

Thinks - probably the Facebook route - and including a suitably-worded comment about "The manageress/manager is there to serve the customers. The customer is always right and I think it would be more appropriate to have a person in that position that is more responsive to customer feedback. I am astonished that one person is being allowed to implement a policy that is of their own personal making - rather than taking account of the customers wishes".

Owain_Moneysaver

Floss wrote: »

Pollycat, Vfm4me & Prinzess as one of 4 children of 2 librarians, fiction books (even our own books) were ordered by author

Letter by letter, or word by word? :cool:

mmmsnow

I used to volunteer in Barnados many years ago and some of the "donations" we got were horrifying. We had to wear gloves to sort through them.

To give you an idea: one bag was stuffed with soiled clothes and a pair of pants with a used sanitary towel still attached.

While this obviously doesn't excuse the rudeness with which your donations were met, it does give you an idea of what some of the volunteers are dealing with.

My last clear out went to my local Barnados and the lady was absolutely lovely. A few of my local charity shops have a lot of new items to sell so they seem to be cutting down on space for donations.

Hermia

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

OOOH! There would be "A Letter" to whoever was over that character complaining about such sexism in the 21st century and stating I would be telling everyone about this and refusing to go in the shop again until it was put right.

Hmmm...on the other hand - I might just go on the local Facebook page and expose that manageress/manager for being like that.....

On the other hand - I might just find a quiet hour or so and whip off the "Men/Women" labels and mix the books up to just be "People" books.

It would very much depend what mood I was in - but I would certainly do at least one of those things - rather than letting the manageress/manager get away with that.

Thinks - probably the Facebook route - and including a suitably-worded comment about "The manageress/manager is there to serve the customers. The customer is always right and I think it would be more appropriate to have a person in that position that is more responsive to customer feedback. I am astonished that one person is being allowed to implement a policy that is of their own personal making - rather than taking account of the customers wishes".

It was bizarre. I wish I had had my phone on me 'cause I would have taken a pic. It was obvious the manager knew nothing about books because anyone who reads knows that women make up a huge chunk of crime/thriller readers.

moneyistooshorttomention

That was my very first thought - that I sometimes pick up a crime/thriller book when I fancy a bit of light reading. I certainly don't pick up chick lit books (read one or two early on and decided they are far too "fluffy" for me). I certainly frequently read books that come (more or less loosely) under a more "politics" type heading.

Cookbooks - well the keenest cook I know personally is male (an ex boyfriend that picked it up as an interest from me) and he certainly keeps a good weathereye out as to what cookbooks are being published. I'm currently awaiting a book from Amazon that he recommended.

I was wondering whether they do the same division in childrens books - as I recall reading the standard ones that both sexes read (eg "Janet and John" and "Famous Five" books). Beyond that - I was reading Biggles books and science fiction ones and I'm guessing this person would have classified them as "boys books".

hunters

In this non sexism world of yours why are you talking about a manageress/manager? Surely the person who runs the shop is the Manager.

moneyistooshorttomention

It wasnt clear what sex the person who is managing the shop is. Therefore the use of both titles to cover all bases. Maybe some people would automatically picture both sexes when the word "manager" is used. Others would certainly picture a man.

Cup of coffee - and deep breath. No need to take offence at living in the 21st century.:cool:

Out,_Vile_Jelly

mmmsnow wrote: »

I used to volunteer in Barnados many years ago and some of the "donations" we got were horrifying. We had to wear gloves to sort through them.

Yes, we must acknowledge that most charity shops unfortunately receive an awful lot of the following:

-torn and stained clothing
-broken toys
-another 10 copies of Fifty Shades Of Grey
-another free Sports Direct mug
-audio/video cassettes
-massively out of date film/travel guide books

Obviously the volunteers should save their reaction to this until after the donor has left, through basic manners.

tessie_bear

sorry in wrong thread xx