Thrift Store Employees Share The Saddest Things People Have Ever Donated

Thrift stores abound with killer clothes that only exist in that one place, a strange amount of used electronics, and extremely cheap ways to outfit your entire kitchen with silverware, mugs, pots, and pans.
But the whole time you're there you feel a keen sense that most of the items around you have been neglected in an attic for the last two decades and dusted off very recently.
Usually, that's no big deal. But sometimes things that old and given away are given away for a reason.
u/NormalBlogTM asked, "Charity shop volunteers of Reddit, what's the worst/saddest thing your shop has been donated?"
Discount Haunting
A local woman with young kids died of cancer, so her husband donated all her clothes to the shop. The shop then did the worst thing it could, and dressed all the mannequins in the window in her clothes. Her kids had to walk past the shop displaying their dead Mum's clothes to get to school every day.
Not the Intended Recipient
A teddy bear with a pre-recorded message telling someone that they love them and hope they get better.
When an Object is a Portal
An elderly man came in one day and donated his and his wife's wedding rings. He told me he had worn her ring on a chain around his neck since she died nearly 20 years earlier. They had no children and he didn't date again. He had finally decided to donate their rings because he had been diagnosed with terminal cancer a few days before. Safe to say, I had to take my lunch break early and have a cry in the staff kitchen.
Not a Ton of Resale Value
The thing that stuck out the most to me was a set of Crocheted woman's underwear
Not Joking, An Absolute Tragedy
the shop I used to volunteer in got a dead cat in one of the bags once. They figured it must have climbed into one of the big donation bins for clothes and not been able to get out
Someone is Out Here Lying About Medals They Never Earned
I found a set of military medals from the second world war in one of our local charity shops before.
Bought them and spent a considerable amount of time trying to find the owner or their relatives to return them but so far no luck.
Haste Makes Waste
At one point, my mom asked my dad to drop a garage bag of old clothes off at Goodwill. So he grabbed a bag and off he went. When he got there, he realized that he had actually brought a dead raccoon that she had put in a separate bag for some reason.
A True Antique
One day while sorting through donations, she came across a slim leather case, which she described as "very handsome." She thought perhaps it contained valuable jewelry or maybe a collector's knife. Opening it revealed an odd contraption made of rubber tubing and metal valves. Perplexed, she took it to her supervisor, who happened to be a Catholic nun.
Turns out it was a 1930s penis inflation device designed for "marital difficulties and impotency." My friend said they got a hefty price for it on eBay.
No Respect
I donated all my fat clothes including a shirt I loved and had for many years. My clothes went like hot cakes which was bittersweet except for my favorite shirt which nobody appeared to want. Finally a guy took it and was using it as his rag to wipe his hands and nose while he ate. That pulled a few heart strings.
Fast fingers come in handy if you're an avid texter. Just make sure you proofread for typos before hitting "send."
Downer
<p>Some people would rather be bombarded with notifications than reading these unsettling texts. </p>Grim Announcement
<p>"'Are you a friend of...?' 'Yeah why?' 'He passed away.' This message came from the account of that friend, so I thought I was getting pranked. It still feels so unreal, losing a friend you met online. I only met him in person once, but I drove 10 hours out to the service anyways, I'd known him online for 5 years. He was only a few years over 20. I'll miss that man."</p><p>– <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/ltmerx/whats_the_most_disturbing_text_message_you_got/gp288lm?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">its_ya_boi_big_ghoul</a><br></p>Worst False Alarm Ever
<p>"Emergency Alert."</p><p>"BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND TO HAWAII. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL."</p><p>"Would have got to be the worst one, surely?" </p><p>– <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/ltmerx/whats_the_most_disturbing_text_message_you_got/gozs00g?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">heisdeadjim_au</a><br></p>Possibly Dreadful News
<p>"My mom: 'please call me'"</p><p>"Me every time: <em>oh god, dad is dead.:<br></em></p><p><em>– <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/ltmerx/whats_the_most_disturbing_text_message_you_got/gp177bz?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">ihatereddit1221</a></em><br><em></em></p>One Of Two Things
<p>"Yes! My dad does this."</p><p>"Please call me ASAP."</p><p>"That means either someone died, or he needs help with his router."</p><p>– <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/ltmerx/whats_the_most_disturbing_text_message_you_got/gp3zia1?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">SeizureAugustus</a><br></p>Typos
<p>This is a reminder that even spellcheck can gets things wrong. </p><p>Only you, the sender, knows the context of the message you write. </p>Bad Typo
<p>"Friend texted a colleague 'I locked the keys in the office.' Only, predictive text changed 'keys' to 'Jews'."</p><p>– <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/ltmerx/whats_the_most_disturbing_text_message_you_got/gp2e697?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Own-Bridge4210</a><br></p>Oops
<p>"I mass texted a bunch of friends and family about hurricane evacuation and autocorrect changed it to ejaculation. That was a fun day."</p><p>– <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/ltmerx/whats_the_most_disturbing_text_message_you_got/gp460kw?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">wired89</a><br></p>One Disturbing And One Devastating
<p>"'I did suck him, so I may have gotten herpes' Sent to me by my dad followed by 'that wasn't meant for you'</p><p>"A second not disturbing but devastating was 'Grandma just went into Hospice. If you want to say goodbye you need to fly out tomorrow.' Got that text on a Tuesday, flew out Wednesday, Grandma died on Friday morning."</p><p>– <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/ltmerx/whats_the_most_disturbing_text_message_you_got/gp20q8d?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Capt_RRye</a><br></p>Bizarre Threats
<p>Whether it's a prank call or egregious sarcasm, nobody likes receiving these. </p>Creepy
<p>"One night just as I was drifting off to sleep, my phone buzzed with the message, 'We're watching,' from an unknown number."</p><p>"I just replied, 'Prepare for boredom.'"</p><p>– <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/ltmerx/whats_the_most_disturbing_text_message_you_got/gp17exo?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">selftypohater</a><br></p>The Sarcastic Threat
<p>"If you're not home in 20 minutes I'll gut your cats and hang them from the ceiling."</p><p>From my husband. While I was in the hospital."</p><p>– <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/ltmerx/whats_the_most_disturbing_text_message_you_got/gp21ogk?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">AliceMorgon</a><br></p>Wrong Number
<p>"I got a message in the middle of the night from an unknown number telling me to stop sleeping with their husband, albeit in somewhat stronger language. I'm pretty certain it wasn't meant for me as I wasn't sleeping with anyone's husband. I replied saying I didn't think the message was meant for me and never heard anything more."</p><p>– <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/ltmerx/whats_the_most_disturbing_text_message_you_got/gozccx3?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">nxtec</a><br></p>People Who Clean Up After Large Festivals Break Down The Craziest Things They've Found Left Behind
Outdoor festivals feel like something from some sort of an alternate reality at this point, don't they?
The Weirdest Items
<p>Sometimes you'll stumble across the weirdest items at a post-festival cleanup. Without any inhibitions, people won't think twice about leaving something behind, even if that something is maybe worth something or important to their survival.</p>What Even Is Money?
<p>I helped out some hippie friends of mine running this little hippie festival called Chronophonium, about 500 people camping for 3 days. Lots of themes around sustainability, recycling and what not.</p><p>Almost everyone left brand new tents in disheveled states all over the place.</p>At Least They Weren't Frogs?
<p>I'm an usher at my neighbourhood movie theatre so idk if this counts but I found a plastic bag under a seat with 6 guppies swimming around inside so I kept the guppies for myself lol. I had to Google how to take care of fish but it was fun and I still have them today</p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/ls0vln/people_who_clean_up_after_festivals_and_similar/gop7nbt?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3">bethanytaylor</a></p>Why Cover It Up? Out Of Shame?
<p>My dad used to be the guy in charge of renting out the Knights of Columbus hall. Per policy, he had to be on-site during the event, but would clean up after. The cleanup would usually be the next day, and I'd come along to help.</p><p>The best thing we found was a $500 tip left behind by the father of the bride after a wedding reception with a little thank-you note.</p><p>The worst was finding the punch bowl the next day after someone had puked in it and put a lid over it. I'm pretty sure it had been spiked with something pretty strong before that, too.</p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/ls0vln/people_who_clean_up_after_festivals_and_similar/gop80ly?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3">Lentra888</a></p>Lucked Out
<p>Sometimes, working these events leads to some good fortunate. People don't tend to watch their wallets or bags when having too much fun, leading to a great payoff for those forced to sweep up after.</p>Australia Sounds Great
<p>I cleaned up for an event once and it was an event where you weren't allowed to bring your own alcohol in (so they can get you to buy it from the event itself and whatnot) so cops were taking people's alcohol. cool, that's fine.</p><p>I was cleaning up and two cops walked over and asked if I was 18. I showed them my license to prove I was, and they gave me almost $1000 of untouched alcohol that they'd confiscated from people trying to sneak it in. bottles of vodka and tequila, a lot of beer and rum and a bunch of ciders all given to me cause I was a volunteer and not getting paid otherwise. was f-cking great</p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/ls0vln/people_who_clean_up_after_festivals_and_similar/gop83do?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3">dorkynoodleman</a></p>That's How A Home Begins
<p>I've cleaned up and found entire cooking sets and chairs.</p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/ls0vln/people_who_clean_up_after_festivals_and_similar/goounwe?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3">rickrolo24</a></p><p>Free kitchen</p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/ls0vln/people_who_clean_up_after_festivals_and_similar/gooy3uu?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3">Mx-Quack</a></p>Getting The Short End Of The Money Stick
<p>Did it once, as a fundraiser for a youth organisation, and collectively we found £3000 and ten mobile phones, and this was during the days when it was a somewhat luxury to have a phone.</p><p>(clarification edit: I didn't personally find and keep all of the above, this is what was found by the group of us, which was around forty teenagers. I found £35 and no phones)</p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/ls0vln/people_who_clean_up_after_festivals_and_similar/gooqnxs?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3">SlackHandful</a></p>...Gross
<p>And here's the stories we were all probably expecting.</p>Sh*t Tents? This Has To Be The Worst One...
<p>Bottle of rum, lots and lots of drugs, watches, phones, perfectly good clothes, welly boots, wallets/cash etc.</p><p>Worst is sh-t tents. As in, abandoning your tent but doing a massive sh-t in it before you go so it can't be reused.</p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/ls0vln/people_who_clean_up_after_festivals_and_similar/gop1x9g?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3">meehaja</a></p>...Annnnd There It Is.
<p>I did a clean at a 3 day music festival once. </p><p>Literally the first night I had to clean one of the portable shower cubicles, because someone had sh-t in the corner and stuck a cocktail umbrella in it.</p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/ls0vln/people_who_clean_up_after_festivals_and_similar/gooyw6d?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3">Wheresma10mmsocket</a></p>No, This Is The On-DID YOU SAY A WHAT BODY?
<p>Poop tent.</p><p>It's a 5 gallon bucket filled with laundry detergent with a toilet seat on top placed in a cheap tent. Imagine open that sucker up after 4 days of 100 degree weather.</p><p>Dead body. It was an apparent OD.</p><p>Booze and drugs. Also a nitrous tank. (That night after work was fun)</p><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/ls0vln/people_who_clean_up_after_festivals_and_similar/gop6ldu?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Simplekin77</a>Over-sharing is a thing. Sometimes, people really just cross the line in the information they've decided to volunteer to us.
It's hard to control who does this to us since it tends to take us by surprise, but hearing some of the things that people have suffered having to hear can easily act as cautionary tales to us.
Seriously, Who Asked
<p>I used to work at an animal shelter and we had several people who would come volunteer to help out.</p><p>One of the women who came there on a regular basis went to lunch with me. She was such a sweet woman, a little older than I was at the time. She proceeded to tell me that she used to go to the park and hook up with old men because she felt sorry for them.</p><p>WTF?</p><p><a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/moviesandcats/" target="_blank">moviesandcats</a></p>Decent Bloke....
<p>I (25f at the time) was at A&E in the UK. I got discharged and was waiting for my taxi outside. This buff shirtless dude, covered in tattoos (they were decent too, imo) comes over and asks for a light. I bought a zippo for novelty so I obliged.</p><p>We got to talking and he told me how he had just got out of prison after serving a life sentence for killing his father, after his father murdered his baby sister. Had his records on him and everything (he was at the hospital as he was diabetic and had experienced an issue of some sort after being released - I have no expertise here).</p><p>I have never feared and respected a man so much in my life.</p><p>I bought him a pint after my taxi decided it wouldn't be arriving. Decent bloke - we still speak 9 years later.</p><p><a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/heavenhelpyou/" target="_blank">heavenhelpyou</a></p>Oh....Sounds Fun....
<p>My sophomore year In college a girl who I had a group project with told me that her first sexual experience was getting tag teamed by a couple of guys while she was in high school. </p><p>I just told her "wow, that's pretty intense." She told me that she loved it and then I changed the subject. Until that point nothing sexual had come up in the conversation.</p><p><a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Nothing_/" target="_blank">Nothing_</a></p>TW: Suicide
<p>My manager at my job in high school decided to tell us about how she tried to end her life on my very first day. </p><p>She was like, "One day, I decided to take some pills and end it all. I grabbed a pill bottle out of my mom's cabinet and took a handful without even looking at what it was and then lay down to die. I was so surprised to wake up in the morning perfectly fine. Confused, I checked the bottle to see what I had taken."</p><p>Yeah, it was estrogen.</p>Please Tell Me About Your Infidelity
<p>My wife loves to tell this story.</p><p>Her first day at a new company she was to meet another employee who would show her around the office. She met her in the lobby and on the elevator ride up to the office she proceeded to tell my wife how her husband has gained some weight and she is considering starting an office affair with a co-worker who is really into fitness and 'has muscles' (apparently she made a gesture where she fanned herself while saying muscles)</p><p>Like literally my wife met this lady 5 minutes earlier for the first time in the lobby and she is already unloading all this stuff on her.</p><p><a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Boxman75/" target="_blank">Boxman75</a></p>TW: Abuse
<p>I was seated next to a quiet kid on a high school band bus to a football game. He'd been in my band class for years, but I had never really spoken to him. He was the type who didn't fit into anything at school that I ever saw. I resolved to get to know him a bit and open up a conversation since we were going to be sitting by each other for a few hours. It was like a dam burst; that dude talked for the whole trip.</p><p>At one point, he told me that his mom was really unhappy with his stepdad but couldn't afford to divorce him. And then he told me that his stepdad would get drunk and beat him with a stick, but he wasn't sure if his mom was also getting beaten and that scared him. There was a brief pause before he said "I never told anyone that before..." Then he changed the subject completely.</p><p>I must've been seventeen or so. It shook me. Like... Obviously I was old enough to know that sort of thing happens, but too sheltered to think it happened to anyone I knew. I told my parents about it-- seemed the right thing to do. I don't know what happened from there. He and I never really spoke of it again. I just looked him up on Facebook, though. Looks like he's done really well for himself.</p><p><a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/DietrichBuxtehude/" target="_blank">DietrichBuxtehude</a></p>Not The Thing To Tell Your Nurse
<p>I was doing my practice in a hospital. They brought a young man in the neuro clinic, he was my 1st patient. He was around 30 and he had fallen from a tree while working. </p><p>He turned out to have a complicated neurological condition that had nothing to do with his fall. He was also diagnosed with severe depression. He was in there for months and no one ever visited him, the only time he felt a bit better was when I visited him and did some tests to him. </p><p>He said "it's nice when you come and make me play with the coloured toys and make me draw things". One day he was looking out of the window, when I came in he looked me dead in the eye and told me "you know, if the windows didn't have protective bars, I'd jump right out". It was the 1st time I'd heard such thing and I remember it ever since.</p><p><a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Shoddy_Natural4217/" target="_blank">Shoddy_Natural4217</a></p>Ope Okay Guess We're Going There
<p>Coworker took out a client for a business lunch at a small town restaurant. He asks the waitress "How are you?" to be polite. </p><p>She proceeds to go on a 5 minute spiel about how terrible her ex husband is and how he's ruining her life and how she feels like crap because of it. After she finishes, takes their order and leaves the customer says "So you must know her pretty well?" </p><p>"Only well enough to say hi in passing." </p><p>"Oh, so then that was just as awkward for you as it was for me then?" </p><p>"Yes, yes it was."</p><p><a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/NowhereinSask/" target="_blank">NowhereinSask</a></p>The Evidence Is The Burn
<p>Some guy next to me on the bus once went into a long elaborate story about how he burned his house down for insurance money like three weeks prior.</p><p> I wouldn't have believed it if his hands didn't have massive burn scarring.</p><p><a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/STARCRUSHER99/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">STARCRUSHER99</a></p>Who Are You Fooling?
<p>Met this dude in college when he moved into the dorm. Goofy looking redneck kid from the San Antonio area. I'm getting to know him when I notice his Spice Girls cd (this was like 2003), and I commented on it. </p><p>He then goes into this long story of how he was at the Walmart in San Antonio, looking at the CDs in that store and just happened to have bumped into Ginger Spice who invited him into the tour bus that no one had noticed, and he lost his virginity to all the Spice Girls at once.</p><p>My thought was "Thank you for this story, I know instantly that I can never trust or believe anything you ever tell me again." It's been almost 20 years and I still can't believe that was something he said in the first five minutes of meeting me.</p><p><a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/GreatJanitor/" target="_blank">GreatJanitor</a></p>We're never that surprised when we encounter people who are lackluster at their jobs. Bad waiters, rude customer service people, dishonest contractors, or inept colleagues abound throughout daily life.
But it's interesting that we expect to encounter that kind of ineptitude far less with certain professionals.