dagblog - Comments for "Goodwill Misses the Meaning of Good Will"

Yeah, I suspect that $8,000

Verified Atheist — Tue, 01 Oct 2013 11:20:49 +0000

In reply to Andrew says out of the two

Yeah, I suspect that $8,000 is to what he actually gave away what the $22,500 damages per song that the RIAA says the industry is injured is to what their actual injuries are. (OK, maybe not that excessive, but using similar inflationary strategies.)

I didn't mean to irritate you

Verified Atheist — Tue, 01 Oct 2013 11:16:47 +0000

In reply to Wow, it must really bother

I didn't mean to irritate you nor to play word games. I merely meant to point out that there are a lot of people out there who are less intelligent than you might give them credit for. I don't know about you, but in my circles, I usually interact with people who are 2 or more standard deviations above average intelligence (including most people at dagblog, I suspect). It's easy to forget that we're not "normal".

Man, I must be shopping at

trkingmomoe — Tue, 01 Oct 2013 05:51:03 +0000

In reply to Andrew says out of the two

Man, I must be shopping at the wrong store. They must have some really good junk. Maybe I should take a day trip down there.

Florida has a terrible record with the school to prison pipeline. This is now a political issue here in Florida and it is the young people who are organizing against it. Like I said up thread, you don't want to get in trouble in Collier County.

Wow, it must really bother

ocean-kat — Tue, 01 Oct 2013 01:33:44 +0000

In reply to I can't see how any young man

Wow, it must really bother you that I have a different opinion that you feel the need to play silly little word games. You do realize that most words have more than one definition don't you? The mathematical or statistical meaning and use is not the only definition or use of the word. Average also means typical or normal. Half the population is not subnormal or below typical. Look it up dude if you're confused.

Kind of a pet peeve of mine, these silly games people like to play with the multiple definitions of words. For example the question: Is a tomato a vegetable or a fruit? Its a game of one upmanship mixing the colloquial definition of an edible plant item, vegetable, with the botanical definition of fruit, most of which aren't even edible.

Are we having fun now?

Andrew says out of the two

Ramona — Tue, 01 Oct 2013 01:11:48 +0000

In reply to There's a lot we don't know

Andrew says out of the two weeks he gave discounts, not once did he put a dollar in his own pocket and he even offered to pay back the money that Goodwill estimates he gave away.

He was only at it for two weeks and yet, according to management, he gave $4000 worth of discounts. Can one person sell more than $8000 worth of goods at a Goodwill in a mere two weeks--assuming there must have been a few days off during that fortnight?

I would question that $4000 amount, just as I questioned the need to send the kid to jail. No, he's not a saint--even he doesn't think so--but I'll agree, there's a lot we don't know about this story.

I can't see how any young man

Verified Atheist — Tue, 01 Oct 2013 00:02:50 +0000

In reply to I think that is the crux of

I can't see how any young man of average intelligence wouldn't have known it was wrong.

Approximately half of the population is of below average intelligence.

I think that is the crux of

ocean-kat — Mon, 30 Sep 2013 22:37:17 +0000

In reply to Keep in mind that unlike most

I think that is the crux of our disagreement. You think "it's not difficult to imagine a naïve young man thinking that it was acceptable." I can't see how any young man of average intelligence wouldn't have known it was wrong.

Clearly my view is in the minority. I'm ok with that. There have been times when I was the only one I know that held a certain view. I'm comfortable in that position too. The by far more popular opinion has caused Goodwill to drop all charges. That doesn't change my mind but I'm not hell bent on punishment. I'm ok with the popular will forcing a change in Goodwill's action in this case.

There's a lot we don't know

ocean-kat — Mon, 30 Sep 2013 22:34:47 +0000

In reply to Keep in mind that unlike most

There's a lot we don't know about this story. The claim is he discounted the prices 50% for people who looked poor. The claim is it cost the company $4000. No information as to how they arrived at that figure. That's $8000 worth of goods. That must have taken some time. $8000 is a lot of business for the average thrift shop. Longer since we can assume that he charged full price to those who he decided looked like they could afford it.

We don't know how he got caught. But it seems to me that if he thought it was totally cool to discount prices for those he decided were too poor he might have casually mentioned it to someone before he gave away $4000.

I suppose now you'll suggest that he was such a good person he didn't want to brag about his "charity" at Goodwill's expense. What a saint!

Keep in mind that unlike most

Verified Atheist — Mon, 30 Sep 2013 22:03:53 +0000

In reply to A more conscious management

Keep in mind that unlike most stores, all of the items being sold had been donated — the prices didn't reflect the actual cost of the store to acquire them in any meaningful way. Furthermore, the proceeds from the sales go to help the poor (and Goodwill's CEOs). In his mind (possibly), he was just cutting to the chase.

I think you're underestimating the typical person's ability to not think things through to assert that he unequivocally knew this was wrong. (That said, I agree that it's difficult to fault his trainers for not stressing to him that he should be selling items at the price shown on their price tags.)

A more conscious management

ocean-kat — Mon, 30 Sep 2013 21:41:39 +0000

In reply to Keeping in mind that we are

A more conscious management might have taken some responsibility for not training the employee properly

You really think that? I think its highly unlikely they didn't tell him to look for a price tag, ring up those prices, then hit total. Take the customers money, input that amount into the machine, hit the balance button, and give the customer that amount of change. There were probably other instructions, like on Tuesdays all blue tagged items are half off. He was probably reminded of that fact when he came in on a Tuesday. That alone should have made it clear that the rest of the week blue tagged items are not half priced or that other color tagged items aren't half priced when ever the hell he decided they were.

Most thrift shops I've been to will not sell an item that doesn't have a price tag. They will not price it at the cash register. It has to be sent back to be repriced. I've had that happen to me. Its likely he was told to send unpriced items back to be repriced. Yet somehow he felt it would be ok to reprice any item anytime he decided. Bullshit, he knew it was wrong.

Yeah, he may not have been specifically told not to make up his own prices any time he felt it was a good idea. That's not an indication of poor employee training but willful ignorance.

One can argue whether the punishment is too harsh. One can argue that about punishments for all crimes, its constantly being debated. But as far as I'm concerned the only one responsible for his problems is himself. People often spend a lot of energy rationalizing behavior they know is wrong. That's how I interpret his lame assed excuses for his behavior.