To understand this post you’ve got to understand a bit about what it is like to work in a Thrift Store.

The job of sorting through people’s donations is interesting, but kind of like shopping at a garage sale – most of the stuff is junk, and you’ve got to be willing to sort through the garbage to find something good.  Actually, the odds of finding something good might be a bit lower than your average garage sale, because often people who have garage sales wait until their stuff is picked over, and then they donate it to The Salvation Army.

So once in a while you find something good.  But on very rare occasions, the staff and volunteers who are sorting through donations come across something so great, or so precious, that they decide to keep in on permanent display in the store, rather than selling it for a few bucks.

While I was working for The Salvation Army in the Quinte Region, we opened a new Thrift Store and Family Services facility in Campbellford.  It is a really cool buidling – formerly a baptist church, which was converted into a flower shop before it was leased to the Army (hence the painted flowers below the windows, which the landlord would not let us remove!).

During the grand opening, my brother happened to notice this doll sitting behind the counter, prominently marked “Not For Sale.”   I find it hilarious that someone thought this doll was so amazing that they just couldn’t bear to part with it.  You know what they say about one man’s junk…

If it was me, I would not want that doll staring at the back of my head while I worked the cash register.  I think it might give me nightmares.  It looks like something out of a horror movie.