A thousand deaths for thrift

I have avoided the Salvation Army and Goodwill for at least a year. Maybe it was the bright lights, the uniformed employees, or the whiteness of the walls. I don't know what it was, but it's over. I am having lots of good times at Goodwill. Salvation Army, not so much, which is just as well; my favorite employee is gone and the place just isn't the same without her twenty piercings and ridiculously awesome attitude (I really did adore her). Like many of the employees (or all? I'm not sure), she was probably going through the Salvation Army rehab program, and rehab eventually ends. Good or bad, it ends.

Every one has their time in the sun, and Salvation Army's will return eventually. Even my favorite place in town has lost its zing, and I hardly go there these days. One just has to keep up with the times.

There's a metaphysical component to the thrift world. It's very systemic. There are trends in donations, and trends in buying patterns. There are pricing patterns (we're in a high one right now) and disgruntled shopper patterns (I just made that last one up). But just like life, things come and go, and we just have to ride the wave or we'll get swept under the current, I suppose. I don't think the thrift current is very strong though, so don't fear for your life or anything.

I desperately want to run a thrift store, or manage rummage and estate sales. I don't want to be a grown up and do my real job. Is there even such a thing? If we all did exactly what we wanted, would the world implode? Fall off its axis? Spiral into the sun? I need to write a letter to Sugar concerning this issue; she will have the answer.