There Are None So Uncharitable As Those Who Collect For Charity

When Hick closed up his Storage Unit Store on Saturday afternoon, he drove SilverRedO over to the church of my sister the ex-mayor's wife and the ex-mayor. Ex-Mayor is on some committee with the church. They were having a big yard sale, and he'd told Hick to come when it was over, and he could have some of the leftover items. Let the record show that HE contacted Hick, who would otherwise have had no knowledge of the sale. Ex-Mayor said they would need to get rid of the stuff that didn't sell, so Hick might as well take some of it.

 

When he closed up his store, Hick called to ask if Ex-Mayor still wanted him to come over. Ex-Mayor said yes. So off Hick went, along with Old Buddy in his own car.

"They had all the stuff set up inside, in the cafeteria area, and down the hall, and into the rooms. We looked around. Your sister and the other ladies who was taking money already had it counted, and were leaving.

 

We loaded up some stuff. I had an old school desk, with the built-in chair and a flip top. And a John Deere tractor picture, and a couple of pictures of Hummels. I wanted them for my sheds out here. One old guy there pointed me to a couple other pictures. One was Blue Boy. He said, 'You got a couple pictures there, you might as well take them. They're nice ones.' As I was leaving, one of the church ladies came out and said, 

 

'You can't just take that.' 

 

I told her my brother-in-law the ex-mayor had told me I could have it. Another lady came out, and said that she had been standing there when Ex-Mayor called me, and that he'd said I could have stuff, and he'd made no mention of any money. Then another lady came out. She had apparently called Ex-Mayor, and agreed that he said I could have the stuff. Then the one who had a problem with it said,

 

'I donated that desk, and it has $30 on it.'

 

So I told the Nice Old Lady who talked to Ex-Mayor. 'Here. Take this $30 for the desk. It's worth that.' I gave it to her. But the Problem Lady said,

'Those pictures you have were marked $80 for the pair. You can't just take them. We at least expect a donation.'

 

So I said to the Nice Old Lady, 'I don't have no problem with giving you a donation.' And I handed her $50. I said, 'Is that okay? Or do you want more?' And she said, 'That's fine.' So I said, 'You're good with that?' And she said, 'Yes. We're good.' But the Problem Lady just stood off to the side, frowning.

Then Old Buddy said, 'Should I give you something for what I took?' And they didn't have no problem with his stuff. He had a cot, and a box of records, and a Jesus picture. He gave them $10 anyway. Which made me feel bad, because he don't have much, and I was the one who told him he could come get some stuff.

I got a call later from Ex-Mayor, and he said he knew who was complaining about me, but that he told them to let me have the stuff. He said that they have a guy coming from the church store over in Bill-Paying Town to get the rest. There must be a whole tractor-trailer load left. He said some of that stuff is five years old. They were just trying to get rid of it during the city-wide yard sale. I told him there was no way I could have taken that much stuff. Maybe that was his intention, but he never said that."

"That would have made me so mad that I would have unloaded all the stuff and left it, letting them keep their donation. THEY could be the ones to have that on their conscience. Not me."

"I thought about that, but I really wanted the desk! I asked Ex-Mayor if he wanted me to bring the stuff back, and he said of course not. They got $90 for it, between me and Old Buddy."

"Can you make your $80 back by selling it?"

"Nah. Like I said, part of it I want to keep. Pictures don't sell. And I got a box of CDs to give to Old Buddy anyway, because that's the kind of stuff he sells."

Let the record show that I criticize Hick for everything under the sun. But two things he is NOT are a thief and a grifter.

Like he said, people "donate" stuff to the church to sell for charity, then act like they want them back if they don't get the price they put on them! Where's the charity? Once you give it away, it's not yours any more. Just because you write a price on it doesn't mean you THE CHURCH will get that price.