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Okay Then

The other day, the Mild Wife and I decided to donate a few items to Goodwill. We had some clothing and other household items that we weren't really using so we figured they could use a new home. It was a small pile of items, but we figured it'd be better to donate them than to throw them out.

That in it of itself isn't very funny, but there were a couple of IKEA lamps in the pile, and fate would conspire to draw a laugh from these lamps by the end of the day. You see, the lamps don't fit very well in our car when they are fully assembled. So, I had to disassemble them in order to get them into a box. Given that these were IKEA items, it took all of about five minutes to take them both apart. There were maybe like three joints I had to screw together, and that was that.

However, I soon discovered that the donation center doesn't take anything that has to be assembled. It hadn't occurred to me, but it makes sense. I wouldn't want to have to stock tools, train folks on how to use them, or even take responsibility for building something incorrectly. Fortunately for me, I had just taken these items apart, so I knew exactly how to put them back together. I offered to do it for them, noting that I'd only need about five minutes. The person I spoke with seemed pretty amenable to this, but he asked me to move to the side so I didn't block others.

That seemed fair, so I took my box, wandered a few feet away, and started to assembled. A different worker, however, asked what I was doing and took exception to my presence. Maybe he just misheard me or maybe he was in a foul mood, but he said, "we don't have time for that!" and told me to move along.

Well, then.

It's their center and it's not like I wanted to get into an argument with one of the guys, so I picked up my box. I now had a choice. Did I take my unassembled lamps back home or did I find a quiet corner to assemble them in? I chose the latter, but I didn't see a particularly good spot for my task anywhere within the center. That's when inspiration struck: there was a bit of a space right in front of the donation center, sort of like a patio. That was more than enough room for me, and I wasn't impeding anyone's path to the door. Better yet, I wasn't actually in the donation center, so I wasn't bothering any of the workers, either.

A few twists and a couple of minutes later, I walked back in the front door with a grin on my face. I offered to donate the now-assembled lamps, and the folks said they would happily take those. Now, the first (reasonable) guy from before clearly remembered who I was, so he did make sure to ask whether the lamps worked (yes, they did). Happy with my answer, he accepted the donation and went about his day.

As I walked out, I couldn't help but chuckle to myself. It's funny what a little elbow grease, creativity, and a smart-aleck streak can accomplish.
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