The Adventures of Goodwill Hunting

No, I'm not talking about the movie...  the one with Robin Williams and that other famous young good looking fella whose name has slipped my mind...Matt Damon, Ben Affleck! aha.  There.  I am talking about my adventures of traveling from Goodwill to Goodwill... not just city wide, but in the Mid TN area!   Since Scott posted about how our glass is either half full or half empty and made us post what we are thankful for, I thought I would catch you all up on my Goodwill journeys during these dark depressive days.  I always get this feeling where I just want to be alone... and Goodwill is where I head in an attempt to beautify myself.  So if I make poor choices, I won't (a) gain weight, (b) mess up my hair color (c) dry out the skin around my eyes on stupid Walgreens cheap eye shadow but I will just buy a bad blouse then give it away to someone who does like it, or give it back to Goodwill !! So I have this "issue" with dressing rooms.  I like to peruse the entire store with my buggy.  Very quickly.  It goes something like this.  Get the buggy.  Go straight for blouses, size small.  Flip, flip, flip, flip, as I manually flip each blouse past my eyes swishing it to the left with my right hand.  Once I have gone through all of those, I go straight for the dresses.....  again, flip, flip, flip. You get the idea.  One lady was standing in my way...  she slowly moved one dress to her left, then slowly looked at another and moved it to the left... while I am flip, flip, flip in 5 seconds flat on each garment... I can tell immediatley whether I like it or not...  so I have flipped through 3 sections to her 1 section and now she is in my way!  Ok she got out of the way cause she must have sensed my frustration....  lol Then its off to the skirts... size small... I don't bother with the solids.  I don't like solids and I only want very short mini skirts with cute patterns...  flip, flip, flip, flip....  moving right along.  We don't dilly dally as my mother used to call it.  So then, its time to try on all of these clothes.  I go to the men's dressing room cause the women's are always full.  Most women are too ashamed to go over to the men's, and men don't try anything on.  So guess who is in that dressing room? ME!  I have real huge issues with the dressing room... Men and women's.  Here are several and I hope you get a kick out of them. *Saturday at Gallatin, I was in line....  a lady ahead of me had just got in the dressing room (men's).  A Mexican who did not understand English came along and I tried to tell him someone was in there.  He tried to open the door.  So... then its my turn.  I 'm in the dressing room... huffing and puffing trying to get these clothes off me cause you know... they are easier got on than off...  and the lady outside says "someone is in there."  The guy tries to open the door.  She says again, "She's in there."  He tries again to open my dressing room! I yell at the top of my voice, "I am in here!" He evidently got the hint and walked away.  The lady outside said, "Thank you.  I tried to tell him that someone was in there!" Last week I was in the dressing room (women's) and tried to come out.  Someone had parked their buggy in the firing line of the door.  WHOP!  Uhh I wanted to cuss and yell "hey do you mind letting me out of here?"  sigh. Then there is the day a lady repeatedly tried to get in my dressing room.  I go to one where non English speaking people go.  OK, that's fine.  But hello? Can you at least look towards the floor and see if there are a pair of legs behind that dressing room door? It always works for me.  So, knock, knock - door jiggle.  "Yes?" I say.  Nothing.  Again.. Knock, knock.  Door jiggle.  "I'm in here".  I thought, one more time and I don't care if I get arrested.  I am gonna fling this door wide open in my underwear and bra and ask "what the h*ll do you want? Can  you see someone is in here?"  My jesus!  The thing is.  I waited my turn to get into the dressing room.  The lady before me had a buggy full.  The ones after me have buggy fulls.  So ...  wait your turn, leave the friggin door handle alone...  and do not park your dang buggy in front of the door where I cannot get out so that you can in turn, get in. !!! Then there is the dressing room on the Herman street/9th avenue Goodwill.  My Lord.  I thought I was being video taped by perverts and had walked into a crackhouse.  I was scared to death to walk from the store to my car that I would be accosted by someone. I won't go there again!

Melinda. Sweetie - your life is never boring. . Oh what I would give to walk in your shoes for one day. Did all of these adventures at least lead to some good deals? Did you get lots of things? I know they had their 50% off sale this past Saturday and I missed it. I know you don't live in Gallatin anymore but did you know they have a nice Goodwill in Hendersonville now? Its not all that new but it is pretty good size and seems to have some decent items.  I hate shopping alone! Poor Corey. I need him to hold my purse because I absolutely hate carrying a purse and I need him to hold all of the items I want to try on. For me, I go to the dressing room once in a store and that is it. I have to take everything in at one time. I don't want to keep getting dressed and undressed so I take like 20 things in at a time. hahaha. Sometimes the workers will say -there is a 6 item limit. So then I make Corey stand there outside the room holding the other items and trading out with me so I only have 6 at time in the room. hahaha. Hey - whatever works!

Mel, I am sitting here laughing but in a sense it isn't funny. I went into our newly relocated Goodwill here and I was so shocked at the good things you find there, but I didn't have an adventure like yours. It had to be an exciting day for you.........lol. It is really bad when language barriers hinder ones understanding, just imagine if he had gotten that door open, he would have been saying things that you probably didn't understand. Oh and the one that made you feel like you were at a neighborhood crack house needs to be closed, but I suppose Goodwill stores appeal to "everyone". I know I love ours. Trust me if I had been with you, you would have laughed the whole time. No kidding! Diane

I go to Goodwill every Wednesday (.99 day) - I only go to 2 stores - I work downtown and I get off at 9:00am so I come Briley Parkway and stop at the Madison store then I go to the new one in Rivergate. If I am in Henersonville I will go to that one, but I never try anything on there. I just buy my size and everything seems to fit, if it doesn't I just either take it back the next Wednesday or just put it in a pile to give back to Goodwill. Yesterday I bought a beautiful red dress still with tags on it from Dillards for .99 size 4 another couple of dresses size 5 and pant suit with a jacket and a very nice pink suit, skirt and jacket and several tops and some shorts all for .99 each. Every Wednesday they have clothes and shoes for .99 (different colors every week). I never buy anything at their regular price which is cheap but I have gotten used to the .99 sale. If I have to miss a week I have withdrawals. Everyone always tells me they would love to have my clothing allowance. If they only knew. In all the pictures on my profile all the clothes have come from Goodwill. My name is Debbie and I am a Goodwill junkie!!

 My dear dear Melinda.  I just don't know girly. I feel your pain. I am a "flipper" too, I just flip threw the clothes quickly and yes it irritates me to no end when someone gets in front of me and takes thier time browsing arghhhh. I too have had people not only try but had a actual goodwill worker walk in on me. My fault for forgetting to lock the door but she could have at least knocked first. Heck she worked there and should know to knock before going in a dressing room but it was so embarrasing cause there I was in all my almost naked glory. I will make a note to never go to the Goodwill on 9th thanks for the head's up there. Hope you got some cute clothes at least.

Ok Melinda.  You know I've been suffering from a sinus infection, so thanks for allowing me to shoo****er through my nose.  At least it didn't have salt in it.  Your post was absolutely hilarious and I truly did shoo****er that I was drinking through my nose.  Now I have to drink more water to meet my quota.  Oh well, it is a warm day, so all is good.

I go to the Madison Goodwill where Electronic Express was...  Gallatin, Hendersonville, Nolensville Road, Franklin, 9th Ave 1st time but no more! lol, and even the Goodwill in Jackson, TN on the way home from Tunica last month!   It's pretty bad when you can spot a Goodwill from the interstate while the car is going approx 80 mph! And you yell' 'PULL OVER! THERE'S A GOODWILL".  I could almost smell burning rubber as Tim skidded his brakes! I am not sure if I scared the pee waddins out of him, or he was trying to appease me! lol Yes I get some great deals.  Debbie, you better not wait to get those nice items for 99 cents cause I have done been there, and scanned and flipped, and tried on the good ones and removed them from every area Goodwill, size 4!  lol

If you are going to the one on Nolensville Road the one in Berry Hill isn't that far.

I forgot to tell you about the new friend I met at the crackhouse Goodwill.  She was a hilariously funny (and I think slightly crazy) lady who followed me around the store.  She laid eyes on me, and they got real big.  She exclaimed as she waved me towards her:  "Here's all the new clothes. Honey, come over here!  I just saw an orange baby doll shirt that will fit you!"  And she kept picking clothes out, passing them in front of me to try.  I found a skirt that I thought may fit her and said, "Hey here's one for you!" And she said, "Oh honey, I am so's big, nothins a gonna fit me here.  I's has to haves me some waist bands on my clothes cause I's so big!"  Seemed like everywhere I turned, there she was.  She was a pleasant lady.  I wasn't afraid of her.  She just needed a shopping pal, I guess. 

Tell you what you do Mel.  I think it was Spencer's Gifts that had this gizmo, it was a personal alarm and shocker. You hung it on the door handle if somebody touched the outside of the door handle they set of the alarm and got a nice little shock!  Heck they hear that alarm half the customers would leave and you could shop by your self.  You could get a sign made up that says Office of Immigration and hang that on the outside of the door I bet you wouldn't be disturbed!  C'ya Bob