The charity store carnival of the terminally bewildered...

[CaptainThrifty]

*The cheerful minority who got very upset when we shut the shop early and demanded that they would 'only take a couple of minutes'.The reason we have closed early is because it's on fire.The presence of a large number of firemen and a big shiny red engine might have alerted you to that.If that failed,the black smoke and big hot orange flames coming out the window should do the trick. We are not letting anyone in AT ALL-regardless of how long it will take to pick up your object or how much you wanted it.No-one else is going to get it,but if you go in,we may be bringing out your charred remains.And that's just extra paperwork...

This is where I would have pointed to one of the firemen and said that he was the guy to talk to about being allowed in. Well maybe not because they had their hands full. But still...

[munchkinmama]

Actually one of the fire personnel probably would be happy to answer that question. At least on my small town fire department we usually have a person designated crowd control to keep the looky-loos and idiots out. (Usually me cause I can be rather forcefull in telling people to get off my fire scene).