To the Editor:

Creston probably has two of the best-operated thrift stores of anywhere you can name. Gleaners and Gleaners Too have managed to continue to grow and thrive and be a huge asset to our community, but there are a few shoppers who show a total disregard for the long hours of hard work put in by volunteers who keep these two stores going and these shoppers have chosen to be as messy as they want because someone is there to pick up after them.

Shoppers, where do you leave your self-respect? I can think of no other place you would go to that you would even dream of acting in such a manner. I would imagine in most stores you would be asked to leave if you showed this sort of ill-mannered behaviour and, for reasons only known to yourselves, when you shop at Gleaners you choose to leave a mess for someone else to clean up. Volunteers are unpaid staff and for that reason alone we should be helping them out by, at least, disciplining yourselves to take that extra few moments to hang up what we have removed from the displays. They all work very hard and put in many long hours so this community can benefit from having not only a great place to shop, but also so our local charitable organizations can benefit from money donated by Gleaners to them for their projects.

The volunteers who work there put in countless hours making sure the articles donated are in good shape and presented to the shoppers in the best possible condition. At opening time, the two stores are neat and tidy and everything is in its place, and after a very short time the stores are in a shambles, with items for sale (especially the clothing) being strewn on the floor and volunteers walking around behind people picking up after them and rehanging clothing just to keep it from getting too messy. I have seen many people take clothes off a hanger, decide they don't want that item and drop it wherever it happens to land, and then go on to do the same thing with the next item they look at. Or, they take a huge armload of items into a change room and leave most, or, in some cases, all, in a heap on the floor or on the bench in the change room. Guess what? Someone has to come along behind that person and rehang all those articles and after doing this numerous times in a day, those volunteers must get very frustrated with having to continually clean up after so-called mature adults.

On the flipside of this, I have also seen other shoppers rehanging articles that they find strewn around, but no one should have to clean up other peoples' messes and these folks must be just as disgusted with the thoughtless shoppers as I am.

I was a volunteer co-ordinator for a non-profit society for 13 years and I saw how committed and selfless volunteers are, and Gleaners volunteers are right up at the top of my list for being hardworking and committed. So let's all thank them for their time and energy by, at least, tidying up after ourselves.

Marilyn McCrory

Creston