A supervisor at a non-profit thrift retailer laid out the darkish aspect of her job in a sequence of TikTook movies that went over waste, neglect, and grief. The supervisor is fed up with seeing how a lot folks purchase simply to mainly throw away, particularly since a lot of what they obtain isn’t match to resell.

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What these donations reveal about folks’s dwelling lives could be downright heartbreaking.

Overconsumption and under-care

In a prolonged video posted on July 6, Alejandra (@fungalmicrobe) recounts storys of donations smeared with feces and large overconsumption. In the TikTook video, which gained 1.6 million views, she sits in entrance of an enormous pile of stuffed rubbish luggage, half of which she says will find yourself in a landfill.

Only a few of the donations folks drop off are match for the shop cabinets. They ship a portion of the remaining to a recycling middle, which pays the shop for the scrap, however the remaining is simply trash. The quantity of stuff the thrift retailer receives smacked Alejandra within the face with how a lot we purchase.

@fungalmicrobe lmk if any of this shocked you #thrifttok #thriftingcommunity ♬ authentic sound – fungalmicrobe

“Witnessing people’s consumption habits and realizing how much we really don’t need,” she began off. “We are crazy, and we just buy and buy and shop and shop and what’s brand new and blah blah blah—it’s getting hard to watch.”

What’s worse than the sheer quantity of stuff they get is the situation it is available in. Not solely is it typically totally disgusting, lined in bodily fluids that may make you assume twice about ever working at a thrift store, the donations reveal one thing in regards to the donors.

“I received a bag full of little boys’ clothes, and the moment that I opened the bag, everyone gasped,” she mentioned. “You could tell that the clothing had not been washed. The smell was so putrid.”

Alejandra didn’t thoughts the odor a lot. What disturbed her was what the stench meant.

“All I could think of was that poor child.”

Walking folks by grief

While a great deal of trash is likely to be predictable, Alejandra didn’t count on to turn into a grief counselor at her job. Unfortunately, that’s what occurs when folks donate gadgets from deceased family members.

@fungalmicrobe Replying to @Ann i hope this brings extra consciousness to what its life for thrift retailer staff and this compels yall to be kinder on this world #thrifttok #thriftingcommunity ♬ authentic sound – fungalmicrobe

In a follow-up video, Alejandra mentioned that her thrift retailer will schedule pickups on the houses of those family members, and typically the donors are nonetheless grief-stricken.

“We have people coming in sobbing, like, ‘I just lost my mother,’ ‘I just lost my grandma,’ ‘I just lost my dad,’ or even people losing their pets,” she defined. “Not something that I thought I was going to have to witness on a regular basis.”

The horror of what the TikToker described led one commenter to ask if it ever plunges her into an existential disaster. All Alejandra wanted to reply had been some alternative facial expressions.

@fungalmicrobe Replying to @jae the lengthy reply: i’m VERY grateful for my job. i can tangibly see the impression that my work has and the peoples hearts i get to the touch. it’s not a straightforward factor to do, however it’s very rewarding. each job has its drawbacks. it breaks my coronary heart to see a lot waste and to must take care of so many people who find themselves not form. HOWEVER, not less than we get to uplift our neighborhood and provides a second life to gadgets that may have ended up in landfills in any other case. it’s all about perspective #thrifttok #thriftingcommunity ♬ emma uncomfortable snort – cuppy💀

“SO much SHEIN”

Thrift retailer employees and consumers within the feedback supported Alejandra’s conclusions, having skilled a lot of the identical. The quantity of donation (particularly from sure manufacturers) and the standard is a theme they see many times.

“I’m noticing SO much SHEIN on the racks,” mentioned @kelliemcphee.

“I want to scream from the rooftops: If you’d be embarrassed to give the item to a friend, DO NOT DONATE IT,” suggested @supinewoman. “WASH the clothes—if it is in poor condition, no one wants that sh*t.”

One employee’s time at a thrift store witnessing all that waste straight up gave them nervousness.

“When I worked in the warehouse of a thrift store, I started to get SO anxious in normal stores bc there is just SO MUCH stuff,” wrote @tonionnalee. “We have so much already!! New cannot be our go-to anymore.”

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