The Saga of The Thrift Store Dragon Lady

I am always on the look out for canning jars. I was at a local thrift store here recently and loaded up my cart with 2 boxes of quart jars and the few pint jars that were on the shelves...3 larges for a buck and 5 smalls for a buck.While I meander back to the check out I spied some jars in a different section.....turns out the second batch were considered vintage and or antiques. Okay the blue ones I could believe that but the clear? I never new there was big market for clear vintage canning jars....at $3.50 a piece. So I had a question for the clerk...."I found this jar in the back with this lid (zinc lid) and its only .20 cents and these up here for 3.50....so what gives?

Que Loud Obnoxious Manager to come forth to the cash register. I ask the same question again.

LOM: "What? you found this one in the back, it looks like someone has been mislabeling things again, good thing she is on medical leave, you said you found this in the back?"
Me: "Yes, I did, that is why I am asking"

LOM: "THESE are VINTAGE, AND that is WHY we are asking more for them"
Me: "Sooo the one I found in the back, is that still for sale at .20 cents?" fast foward to whats whirling around in my brain....wha? vintage jars? I have heard of antique jars but not vintage....the blue ones?

LOM: "Where did you find these jars" (pointing to my 2 boxes of quart jars, dodging my question)
Me: "In the back stacked next to the canning jar shelves, I figured I would just grab the boxes of them to make it simpler for me to carry and your store help since they are already boxed"

LOM: "Well those on the top are vintage and WELL *sigh* SINCE you found them there, then you can have them for the regular price."

She proceeds to lecture me on what jars are vintage and why and I began to feel like Woodstock listening to Snoopy....wah, wah, wah, wah, wah.

Audience rolling their eyes....and when I glanced at one lady she states in a not so hushed manner "what an obnoxious lady"......hence the nickname Loud Obnoxious Manager.

Me: "Well then I will take the quart jars and the regular pint jars, cuz there is no way I am paying three dollars and fifty cents for THOSE other pint jars.

The clerk proceeds to ring up my bill

Clerk: How many quart jars?
Me: "Thirty and at 3 for a dollar that is $10 bucks and 5 pints for a dollar"

LOM to Clerk: "YOU are doing it wrong, you must sell them individually, gimme a pen and a piece of paper"

Clerk looks utterly embarresed, the line is growing and now the manager is chastising the clerk for her mistake. Manager annouces she "I need to figure things out".

Audience member: "Good Grief, ten goes into thirty three times do you really need a pen and paper to figure that out"

Me: chuckling and getting a bit rubbed by LOM.

LOM: "Well, I have never learned to can, I have always wanted too, but I have never learned"

Me: Secretly wanting to say...."basic math skills are a must if ya wanna learn to can" waiting to be shot down by the jar dragon, on second thought best to keep my mouth shut and best not to poke at dragons when they suffer from a bizarre psychotic behavior.

LOM to Clerk: "Its 3 at 10 dollars, thats how to ring it up, 3 at 10 dollars"

Me to audience lady next to me: "ya know I passed up an offer from a country gal willing to give me all 500 or so canning jars for free a few years back.... and before I could say anything else LOM butts in to say..... "bet you could just kick yourself for passin that up"

Me: "not really, I didn't have the use for them at the time, so no sense in hoarding stuff just because"...........hoping that last jab would sink into her thick skull.

Clerk: "That will be $13.75" (I did find some metal pie plates as well for camping)

I pay and one of the audience members holds the door for me while I leave with my goods, and she rolls her eyes and says "geez that was interesting". As I was driving away a thought occured to me....as they always do, never to come to you when you are right there dealing with nutso people. I am close to 40 and most folks in my generation do not can their own food.....how many folks of my parents generation did not can thier own food? So really I will bet you $$ on it MOST of the canning jars found from estate sales or gramma's attic are old....vintage is a nice term for "really old and kitschy", it does not mean priceless and hard to find. Get real LOM, I am never shopping in your second hand store again, you forget that all of the stuff in your store was GIVEN to your organization in hopes it would find a home and or be of use to someone else. You did not have to pay for it and probably did not pay for the shipping either. Sure you have some overhead, we all do....however you are a non profit organization and do not pay the same tax schedule as small business owners. Shame on you! The jams that I make and the food I can is worth far more than the jar....not the other way around.

Buh bye


and no I did not get the jar I found in the back for the advertised price of .20 cents.....it occured to me once I got home....I thought about making a fuss and going back there to get it, then I thought, why bother its obvious she needs it more than I do. Then I wondered if I buy them outright at that grocery store, how much is the difference? The new ones come with new lids and rings. yet to find out.

XOXO
Cowgirls Wear Shitkickers!