Friday 20 September 2013

Crowded House at the Eltham BSL!

Today started off in a normal way at our little opshop.  It was cold and wet, and people drifted in and out with donations, and buying bits and pieces.  All of a sudden it was chaos!  A busload of footballers (or supporters, I'm not sure which) descended on us - 22 blokes altogether - and started pulling clothes (mostly womens) off the racks and trying them on, all laughing and talking the way young blokes do.   We  only have one tiny fitting room (cupboard space) so the guys were tearing off their shirts and trousers in the shop in their hurry to try stuff on.  The other two ladies on duty were laughing at them, but all I saw was clothes and hangers strewn over the floor, and I asked loudly "Who is going to clear this up?  Are you actually going to buy anything or are you just vandalising our shop?"   They all laughed and said "It's okay, we'll put everything back for you, we're going to Bendigo for the weekend football and having a party up there".

The other customers were vastly amused, and stood back out of the boys' way while they organised themselves.  They came up to the counter one by one, most of them still wearing the clothes they'd put on.  They ripped the tags off each other's clothes and presented them to me to total up.  Most of them spent between ten and twenty dollars, and some handed me fifty dollar bills, which I had no hope of changing after the third bill!   To their credit, most of them said 'keep the change, it's for a good cause', and after they had all left, we were amazed to find that they were true to their word, and had hung up all the clothes they'd tried on an discarded.

Our usual takings for a Friday is around two hundred dollars, but when I left at lunchtime it was over $400!  Thanks guys, whoever you are - and come back soon!

4 comments:

Ren said...

That's a wonderful story Gina! Thanks for sharing.

Gina E. said...

Glad you enjoyed it!

Anonymous said...

Love hearing stories like this :)

DIAN said...

Sounds like a good time all round and good takings as well.