Another's man's trash is not always another man's treasure.
Instead of just throwing things away, donating the stuff that you don't want anymore sounds like a generous and sustainable option. You might figure, if you had use for it then someone else must, too.
But some people's donations do more harm than good. If you're trying to get rid of something because it's now in poor quality, then it won't be good enough for someone new to use either.
Redditer u/Indianfattie asked Goodwill employees the things that they wished people wouldn't donate to the store, and thrift store workers informed everyone what items are useless and what will probably go straight into the garbage.
20. Books that lost their hype factor
"Not Goodwill, but in, Wales, a charity bookstore asked people to stop donating the Da Vinci Code because they were getting so many copies."
18. Just throw it out yourself
"Hey, Salvation Army here. Socks that aren't new in a package go straight into the garbage. Also, don't put knives or stemware into bags of clothing. Stemware usually breaks and turns into knives. Happy meal toys are trash. Parents of young children, please throw all those cheapie toys away rather than stuffing them randomly into a bag of clothing."
17. Exotic dancer clothing is not welcome
"I volunteered as a teen. I had to sort the clothes and learned a LOT about what strippers and dancers wear. We couldn't sell any of it, and my virgin eyes were shocked every time I pulled a g-string out of a bag."
16. They can't even consider selling them
"Something I haven't seen mentioned is bean/plastic pellet filled toys. If it's not stuffing, it's a choking hazard and a safety risk for young children so most op-shops/charity stores/Goodwills are required to dispose of them."
15. Sketchy...
"One time a guy donated 6 kidneys in the time of one month under the same name(dumbass) got arrested 3 weeks later"
14. A good way to judge what you're donating
"Not a worker but I've always heard that you should only donate stuff you would feel OK giving to a friend. Nothing damaged or non functional, no clothes with holes or tears, etc."
13. It should be obvious to not donate infested stuff
"former goodwill employee here and where do i begin?
bug-infested furniture... if you need to get rid of it then take it to a landfill and dispose of it properly! goodwill has no use for your roaches and bed bugs...
dirty clothing, when donating clothes to goodwill make sure they're clean first, goodwill doesn't wash the clothes that are donated to them.
garbage, items that are clearly broken... they're not a dump, just... throw it away
i kid you not someone once donated homework, it was graded and everything... why?"
12. I guess it can be dangerous for people with allergies
"My local Goodwill turned down our working, electric lounger because we have a dog and the hair was stuck to the bottom of the legs. So no furniture with ANY pet fur!"
11. 11. Don't ever dump animals anywhere but an open animal shelter
Giphy"Kittens
It's heartbreaking every time"
10. Watch how you store things!
"I almost had a serious injury when one donor wrapped up blades from a blender in a towel and dumped them in a bag full of clothes. Please don't do that."
"One of the girls at the thrift store I work at had to get stitches because some jerk threw steak knives in the bottom of a trash bag of clothing."
9. I hate to see vintage furniture go to waste
"Cleaning out my senior parents' place we tried to donate a very expensive built in tv stand made of oak. Turns out flat screens don't fit in them and they never get sold."
8. Trash literature is trash
"I remember a while ago I saw a side news story covering how a bunch of charity places were asking people to stop donating book copies of Fifty Shades of Grey. I seem to recall one store had enough copies they made a book fort out of them."
7. This isn't a dumpster
"I haven't worked there in over a decade, but: garbage. People would dump bags and bags of garbage in front of the store overnight, and I mean stuff that no reasonable person would ever consider to be anything but garbage.
Busted up concrete. Rusty metal. Basically stuff they didn't want to pay to have hauled away, and couldn't be bothered to take all the way to the dump."
6. Who lied to me and told me they wash the stuff!?
Giphy"Don't donate unwashed clothes. You know the stank that most Goodwill stores have? They don't wash donations before putting them out. They just go straight on the racks.
Don't donate any clothing that's stained or has holes in it. These items don't sell and will likely be thrown out. Don't donate used socks or underwear. Don't donate worn out shoes, smelly shoes, or solo shoes."
5. Maybe a collector on eBay would want that
"Decades old encyclopedias missing a volume or two..."
4. Check the dates!
Giphy"I volunteer with a local food pantry. Please don't donate literal garbage. Nobody wants your decade-expired dry cake mix."
3. Check your pockets
"We call them charity shops in the UK, I'm guessing it's the same deal. If you're donating anything with pockets PLEASE take a second to remove your used tissues, it grosses us out. We don't want anything that's broken or doesn't work. We don't want Christmas decorations before Novemberish, we don't have a lot of storage space to keep them for 8 months. We don't want your underpants or socks"
2. Pay attention to what you're donating
Folks, go through your stuff before you donate - I once found a memorial album someone had made for a woman who had died, and another time I found an old friendship book full of names and addresses. Really made me wonder what the people who worked in the charity shop were thinking.
1. Seriously, pay attention!
"Someone accidentally donated an urn, complete with cremated ashes."
It's definitely a good conversation starter. But while some people's professions are generally understood by the majority, there are other professions that entail more than what is outlined in a job description.
Hoping to be enlightened, Redditor memereda_vanwolf asked:
"What are facts about your job that general public has no idea about?"
There are simple solutions to seemingly complicated issues.
A Quick Fix
"I work in IT support. Legit about 80% of all problems are solved by rebooting the computer/terminal/phone."
"If not, 20 percent is pure detective work."
– Sarato88
Easy Wipe
"Radioactive contamination can often just be cleaned with Windex or even water."
– riphitter
Facts about these specific professions are truly eye-opening.
The Finest Detail
"I work at a large biotech/pharmaceutical manufacturing company. The drugs you take or buy from your local pharmacy are so insanely and meticulously regulated & inspected at every step of the journey - from petri dish to pharmacy shelf, that you could take a pill from a bottle and it can be traced back to the exact room it was made in, the exact equipment that was used, who was responsible for each step, and the time it was made down to the very second. Seriously, there is no misteps when it comes to GxP."
– StaircaseRailing
Corporate Allocation Of Funds
"Working for giant companies, it’s comical how many systems are raggedy messes of bare-bones functionality. All available money gets thrown at certain projects, leaving everything else to work on complete shoe-strings."
– DontWorryImADr
Legalities Of Being An Organ Donor
"I work in organ donation."
"The general public doesn’t understand literally any of it."
"One notable thing is that when you register to be an organ donor, it’s a legally binding declaration about your wishes after death. It is akin to a will under gift law."
– anonkraken
Full Transparency
"Anaesthetics- we only ask about your illicit drug use so we don’t kill you when we give you a general anaesthetic and that you have appropriate pain relief."
"You’ll have a tolerance that we need to counter by giving you a variety of drugs and more of them."
"No judgement from us on your choices - just want to actually take care of your properly."
– killingkirby
Dealing With The Deceased
"I was a licensed Cremationist for 8 years. Regardless how hard we tried, that wasn’t just grandma or grandpa in the urn…."
– X_5456
Never Assume You're Always Safe
"Ex-security guard here."
"We're not there to protect you. We're there to observe and report. Don't assume that just because whatever building you're working in has security that you're safe. Especially if security is of the unarmed variety."
– dragon_book_hoarder
Urgent Reminder
"That as a trucker, that space I left in front of me is so I don’t kill anybody, NOT your personal invitation to jump in front of my bumper because you forgot your exit or whatever reason. So many want to get in front of us and slow down and park in front my bumper."
"YSK: Don’t believe the billboards those ambulance chasing lawyers put up about big truck accidents mean big bucks. Only survivors get money, most likely not you. If you do survive, more than likely your quality of life is going to be miserable."
"Also YSK: these trucks can weigh up to 80,000 pounds, 34,000 pounds empty and around 20,000 pounds without the trailer. How does that compare to your SUV or even your lifted pickup. Do us all a favor and give us some space, leave us room so that you can live and go home to your family"
"One final thought, NEVER assume the other driver sees you."
– gfinchster
Some jobs have great perks.
These are sorely lacking in company benefits.
Trolling Hotlines
"Crisis hotline. Sometimes we get really disturbing prank calls. I always encourage people to call back if they are ever in crisis. A lot of times, they (the prank callers) do."
– fieldsofjade
First Things First
"When you call 911, please say your address before anything else. It doesn’t matter if someone is actively dying, say your address first. (I’m from a rural area so this might just be a problem where I’m from) but if you’re calling on a cell phone sometimes it can ping in a completely different spot then you are. If you call and don’t say where you are and we get disconnected, I might not have any clue where to send rescue/police/fire and therefore I cannot help you. Say your address (if you don’t know then please give like a cross street or notable location) first, then preferably your name, THEN tell me what’s going on."
"A lot of people assume that we automatically have a precise location where they’re at, and the systems can be pretty accurate but you can’t always rely on them. If you say the address and we get disconnected I can at least send someone to the area to figure out what needs to be done."
"(Source: I am a 911 dispatcher and I have so many people scream at me for not automatically knowing their location)"
– imscaledandicy
Respect Your Masseuse
"I'm a massage therapist. I don't care if you didn't shave. But please wash your feet."
– Odd_Improvement578
I usually have interesting conversations with Uber or Lyft drivers as a passenger.
They've disclosed the questionable policies of the companies they respectively work for and divulged traffic tips and what routes are best to take to get to certain destinations.
But what captivated me most were the stories about the passengers they've picked up.
Without going into detail, riders can be absolutely deplorable and inconsiderate.
One anecdote made me very anxious about sitting in the back seat and made me checking for stains.
Some on-the-job facts are better left a mystery. So, you're welcome for me sparing you the disgusting details.
I wasn't allowed to cross the street without my. other's permission. It was weird. But now that I drive... I get it.
Alone
Lonely Bucks Bango GIF by Milwaukee BucksGiphy"I was only allow to go to school and come back home, my parents never allowed me to hangout with friends after school or on the weekends."
limsasi
Friends
"I could totally see my friends, but effectively wasn't allowed to make any. I was homeschooled so I didn’t have any, and church wasn’t really anyone under 50, so I just never had any communication with anyone who wasn’t an adult until college. This vastly set me back along with my siblings and I didn’t go on my first date until 23."
AzureBluet
Make it Quick
"My parents expected me to call them and ask for permission to go out at night (which in their minds was after dinner and included movies) throughout college. And furthermore I had to use a calling card with limited minutes because my college was long-distance from them."
"My goal was to end the call quickly which usually meant acquiescing to their rigid rules and staying in. Took me entirely too long to realize that they were in fact half a day's drive away, so I could do what I wished without always checking in."
Crazycatlover
I am Meek
"Not being allowed up in my room during the day. (It was okay to go up there once it got close to bedtime, but it was hit or miss... I could never quite figure out the exact time it became acceptable.) My mom would always yell for me to come back downstairs if I disappeared up to my room for more than five or ten minutes at a time. And a related rule: not being allowed to shut my bedroom door, except briefly when dressing."
"For context, I was an introverted girl who loved to read, and I just preferred the peace and quiet of my room. Also, I was a very meek child who never got into trouble, so those rules weren't made because of any misbehaviour on my part. It seemed absurd to me then, and still seems absurd to me now."
Avendaishar
Who?
he's cute tv land GIF by YoungerTVGiphy"It wasn’t a rule but, when I was 13, my mom overheard me telling some friends a guy on TV was cute. She made me feel so ashamed that, to this day, I’m reluctant to actually point out a cute guy to friends or voice my appreciation when they do it. It’s awkward."
Brunonononoooo
Wow and I thought I had it bad because I wanted more allowance.
Less Words
Argue Donald Trump GIF by Wave.videoGiphy"I do high level debate in high school, so in every argument we had, I wasn't allowed to use it because it was too insulting to them or something. Very many arguments were had in form of screaming and cussing at each other."
Vivid_Fan_3150
In the Middle...
"As the middle kid, I had a lot more rules compared to my siblings. My older brother moved out of my dads house so it was me and my little brother, who was spoiled rotten. I wasn't allowed to go to bed until my little brother said I could. He was allowed to hit me as much as he wanted. Keep in mind, I'm a female, now 18. He is four years younger."
"I moved out when I was 17. Also, he was allowed to do whatever he wanted and I had to do his chores and mine in under an hour. My chores were the dishes, taking the dog out, sweeping, mopping, steam mopping, vacuuming, laundry, and bathrooms. We lived in a 4 bed, 3.5 bathroom house. It also had a basement that my dad used for his man cave. My brothers chores were to clean his room, and take the trash out."
"I did all of his chores everyday and mine and it took me from 6 AM (I also wasn't allowed to sleep in but he could) until 3 or 4 PM. And I was doing online school. I failed school and was told I was only good as a servant. I was also getting abused but I moved out and now my fiancé helps me get over the trauma."
kyliesolis
2 years later...
"When I went to boarding school, if I gained even 0.1kg of weight, I would have all electronics, which included my phone, tablet and laptop, taken away from me until 2 years later when my parents said I could have them back. I wasn't allowed to leave the school grounds unless I had their permission. I didn't give a f**k what they said and still left the school on weekends, but the farthest I went was the little co op 50 meters from the school because that's all I ever wanted to go to."
marvel_is_wow
I Feel for Her
"I’d say I have some of the least strict parents and it’s made me realize the insane things my friend’s parents do. I have a friend from a hispanic household, she’s not allowed to wear makeup, and must get permission to go out. This wouldn’t be weird if she wasn’t literally 20, with a driver’s license, car, and 2 sources of income including the military. They don’t let her move out. She’s being deployed to Kuwait indefinitely and I haven’t gotten to see her once before she leaves."
jesikau
Hydrate
Johnny Depp Drinking GIFGiphy"My siblings and I couldn't drink anything during our meal. If we wanted anything to drink, we had to have it before we ate, and couldn't touch it again until our plate was clear."
Arken8270
In a Small Town
"cracks knuckles... my time to shine. I had a 7:00 curfew until I was 18 (then it only moved to 10). I live in a very small town, the kind that Walmart is considered a date, and my parents were mad I went across city lines for the movies when I was 18. I could only go out (meaning anytime I left the house including family events) twice a month. I had to turn my phone in at 9 until I was 16."
Winter_baby_22
Face Reads
"I have the male equivalent of 'resting *itch face.' So I was forced to smile and s**t, otherwise I got in trouble for 'making a look."
iBelieveInSpace
It's amazing some people still grow up sane.
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Zombies, blood-suckers, knife-wielding maniacs, anyone? That's a hard "nope" from many audiences who prefer laughing at Will Ferrell movies or shedding a tear from triumphant classics like Rudy rather than shrinking in their seats and bracing themselves for the next jump-scare.
But sometimes, movies that aren't marketed as horror films should really get a re-evaluation because there are moments in the film that may unintentionally creep the bejesus out of certain audiences.
Curious to hear examples of these, Redditor bellathehellgirl asked:
"What movie scares the hell outta you that isn’t a horror movie at all?"
These Redditors were not prepared for what was in store for them.
It Starts Off As Fun & Games
"Jumanji. As a kid I used to have nightmares about those monkeys chasing me."
– 4thDimensionFletcher
Creepy Muppets
"The Dark Crystal"
"WHAT THE F'K IS THAT THING"
– Poorly-Drawn-Beagle
Not The Oz We Remember
"Return to Oz. Saw it when I was 5. Had nightmares about the wheelers for years."
– WestCoastWaster
Everyone loves a Disney classic.
However, these Redditors found certain parts of the films every kid grew up loving to be absolutely terrifying.
The Wooden Boy's Trauma
"Ever watched Pinocchio as an adult?"
"That is effed up."
"The scene with the boy turning into a donkey and losing his s*t over it is downright traumatic and not the kind of body horror one expects from a kids film!"
– maxcraigwell
The Lost Girl
"The original Alice in wonderland. It terrified me as a kid that she couldn’t find her way home, nobody was really helping her, she was just stuck."
– kclark2293
Everyone's Mad
"Definitely this. Not only that she's lost but that she's in a world so alien yet familiar. The kind of place where if you were stuck there your whole life you might go mad if you manage to acclimate at all. Lost forever in an alternate world with inhabitants that are so outlandish you can't tell if there really is some structure to what they do and how they think or if they really are all just mad in the head."
– maico3010
Well, It Is A Roald Dahl Book
"James and the Giant Peach. F'k that whole movie."
– mcc22920
Even dramatic films involve conflicts that may be too intense for some viewers.
Too Much Stinging
"My Girl when Macaulay Culkin gets stung to death by bees. Childhood me was scared of bees for quite a while."
– [deleted]
Blurring The Lines Of Reality
"There's a movie I remember seeing with Britney Murphy where she dropped off her husband for a medical procedure and came back to pick him up only to find out he never existed or something and was made to believe she was hallucinating the entire relationship etc.."
"The thought of learning that anything in my life is a hallucination, is terrifying to me."
"Another one I can remember was Premonition with Sandra bullock. The movie itself wasn't the greatest, but the plotline is terrifying."
– travelingpug
These were marketed as comedy. Yet, who was laughing the entire time?
Who You Gonna Call?
"I was very young when I first saw the original Ghostbusters."
"I was NOT expecting the library ghost to do that!!!"
– axeman020
Scary Satire
"I know it was meant to be a comedy and all, but Mars Attacks. Call it deep-seated child trauma from seeing it when I was too young. Watching people get disintegrated into piles of bones gave me nightmares for weeks."
– xSapphirya
I remember seeing David Lynch's Elephant Man as a kid and being traumatized after seeing the disfigured face of John Merrick.
It's supposed to be a drama that should elicit sympathy and compassion after seeing the main character being exploited and paraded around by a Victorian freak show.
But for this young viewer, the critically-acclaimed film was nothing but a traumatic moviegoing event.
What movie forever unintentionally traumatized you?
I just put in headphones when people are going at it.
"don't stop, I need this!"
Stephen Colbert Hello GIF by The Late Show With Stephen ColbertGiphy"Had this happen to a buddy while in college. Not a hotel but thin apartment walls. They kept having loud, obnoxious sex until he yelled, 'don't stop, I need this!' They quit after that."
varnecr
My bowels...
"A few years ago I did it by getting food poisoning. The walls were thin so when I had to vomit I did it really really loudly. Stopped them immediately."
Ok_Whatever_Buddy
"Yooo me too. Except mine was the opposite situation -- I may have saved a friend's relationship. He and his girlfriend were having some really serious discussion in his room, like may have been on the verge of breaking up, and my crazy loud food-poisoning shits echoed through the apartment, followed by muffled laughter from my friend's room."
sfzen
BOOM!
"Blast circus music. No one can be in the bone zone to that kinda soundtrack."
KatatoniK94
"My college roommate had a sex CD with a bunch of hard techno on it. We had vicious prank wars in our house so one day, I took his sex CD, copied tracks 1-3 with reduced gain and dropped in circus music with really high gain as track 4… queue hilarious sexual exploit."
surfinwhileworkin
Yo Rick!
"This happened while on a road trip with some friends in college. It ended with a dramatic 'OH RICK YES!' We let the silence sit for moment before cheering and yelling 'that a boy Rick!'"
weagle01
"My freshman year of college a dude on our floor had a very vocal girlfriend, one day they were going at it and we rounded up everyone on the floor. Then we sat around the hall outside his door and cheery and clapped when they finished. They didn't meet in his dorm room anymore."
jedadkins
Tell me more...
Listen GIF by The Maury ShowGiphy"Talk into the wall about their sex, and ask questions about their positions."
gerbalinmy*utthole
People have some interesting ideas when trying to impede other's "lovemaking."
Loop It
moaning crying GIF by Little MixGiphy"Repeat every moan and sound they make, but louder."
ShadyMyLady
"Repeat every moan and sound but in very load robot deadpan."
Sylentskye
"Death's door"
"College, we had not-your-average-dorms, it was an old building that used to house workers for a nearby big-name fancy hotel. Anyway, lots of odd doors everywhere and paper thin walls. There was a very super goth girl on our floor (and this was an art school, so very super goth even for there is saying something). She actively and literally would turn her nose up at anyone trying to say hi, including other women."
"Her door had a sign on it 'Death's door.' So she was quickly nicknamed Death. She has an older boyfriend who comes over, and they have marathon bouts of super loud sex, where she is the one making all the noise and progressively gets louder and deeper as she goes. And thus we coined the term death-sex."
"One day, it's particularly bad. It starts very early in the morning. By the mid afternoon (yes, seriously) it had gotten so loud people from other floors came down to figure out what the hell was going on. My roommate, clearly drained and pissed at the day he's had, comes home, sees a handful of folks from the other floors, sees me, asks 'tell me they'd stopped and have just restarted' and when I tell him amazingly no, they have been going all day."
"He goes up to the door rests his forehead on it, and yells 'YOUR SEX IS JUST.... TOO LOUD FOR ME' They shut up immediately and that was the last time any of us heard death sex. Sometimes you just gotta let em know they're being too loud!"
clamroll
Full Volume
"Play the song 'baby shark' on full volume. My freaking roommates used to do this in college, it was a terrible inside joke."
Nuked0ut
"We used to put the Mortal Kombat theme tune on full volume. One time we even managed to get it playing from the guys own computer after he brought a girl back. He just powered through."
HuntedWolf
"They'll be hearing that on repeat in 9 months time if they're not careful and if they don't like it they can stop what they're doing. Nice."
cutdownthere
Comedy
"Just start laughing hysterically. I was in the shower when I could hear a couple having sex. When I finished, I started to laugh hysterically. The walls were very thin. They heard me and couldn't understand why I was laughing. They did tone it down. The next morning I saw this couple as they were leaving the next morning. We all avoided eye contact. It was all I could do not to burst into laughter. They probably thought I was a strange person."
baronesslucy
What have we learned? Know your surroundings when it's sexy time.
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