I just wanna smack em

[cashierbex]

Donate them something to sell. Even if you don't have anything much, if you're craft-skilled you could make them something out of 'found objects'.

Trivets or pot holders made of discarded clothes can be done very nicely, if nothing else. Make sure the clothes in question are heat-proof. (Denim is a good candidate, so are old 'work clothes' of the overalls/work pants/work shirts sort.)

If you can braid, you cut the cloth with pinking shears (or use a fabric that doesn't unravel and use ordinary scissors). Make each strip about an inch wide, and as long as you conveniently can. Braid the strips together. When a strip is about two inches from ending, put a replacement strip with it, and braid the two as if they were one until the first ends.

Once you have finished up the cloth, or think you have a long enough braid, roll the braid into a coil. Get a sewing needle and thread, and sew the coil together so it doesn't uncurl. If the thread matches, you can sew pretty damn roughly and still have the thing look good.

If you want to, decorate the finished trivet with anything heat-proof. Otherwise, you're done.

Yeah, totally not crafty at all. I'll figure out something.

[XCashier]

I think Karma allows each one of us a pass on a couple of idiotic things done as teenagers - at least I hope so Especially if we're smart enough not to do it again

I don't think it's a pass so much as a mild punishment: that nagging, guilty feeling that you know you did something wrong, you feel bad about it and resolve not to do it again.

[PepperElf]

i always love how some people try to make up excuses to justify their behavior - like stealing. but i tell you what, if someone steals from them - even if using the same excuse - and i bet they'd think it wasn't right

[Pixilated]

Local Goodwill figured out a way around this. Quite industrious I think. Color coded tags combined with water soluable (spelling) markers for anything not clothing related. If the two do not match, they will not sell the item. Would take somebody a little time to change both.

For clothing they use color coded tag holders (not sure what they are called, would normally hold the tags in place, but no tags). Harder to replace, as they pass through the material. No tag holder, no sale.

Great suggestions, Mytical. I'll bring them up at "my" thrift shop. We operate on a really skinny shoestring budget, but they might be able to make it work, if only on the specially tagged stuff.

We used to use masking tape on non-clothing items, but of course that stuff comes off if you look at it wrong. We now use actual self-sticking labels that you have to work hard at to get off, which foils the vast majority of scammers, who want something they can remove easily and quickly. Even the dumbest knows that standing there for 45 minutes scratching at a label with your fingernail is going to garner some unwanted attention ...