(1081) Human Nature

A friend from Singapore mentioned she stopped volunteering at a second hand store after two years.

There is politics involved in the management and cliques among the volunteers. She helped there because she had free time and liked working with one particular volunteer for her choice of time-slot.

When she realized how a group ganged up against her because she was naïve and assumed everyone was as honest as she was, she ran away like a bolt of lightning.

She remembered how a middle-age man walked in and had a look on all the items offered. My friend's buddy asked if he found anything he liked. He said in an even tone of voice, " Well. As I expected, there is really nothing worth buying. If anything good comes in, it would have been snapped up by some volunteers."

My friend's buddy was equal to any accusation. She answered sweetly, " No. That is not true. I live in a tiny little apartment, if what you said is so, my pad would be filled to overflowing. Thank you for visiting." She opened the door very politely and smiled at him as he walked out.

What my friend learned is that human nature is such that often what others thought the worst is really true. What I learned from my 10 hours of volunteering is when items which are exceptionally good come through my hands, I would take the trouble to give it to the poor directly rather than dropping them at the recycling centre. Therefore I would go through lots of trouble to ensure that such items would not fall into the hands of some Mrs BMW.