One Man's Trash Talk.

I live in an area of the City of Hate that is rife with thrift stores, which is fine by me as I heartily enjoy a jaunty browse through society's jetsam. I like to think it helps keep my finger on the pulse of consumer trends, however peculiar.

A new thrift store opened quite close to me a couple of years ago and it has puzzled me for quite some time... until recently, that is.

You see, I take long walks daily and at least once a week I set a course that will end at this very thrift store, just to see what's new. The problem is, very little of the inventory is ever new as almost none of it changes. I swear to you that since the day it opened the same five XL men's t-shirts still hang on the rack, the same beat-up washer lurks in the far corner, and the toy section still has the same Easy-Bake Oven sitting on the shelf week-in and week-out.

This is not normal.

I have a theory about this store and, if it's true, the owner is a bloody genius.

I think he waits for donations that have obvious collector's appeal or high resale value and hawks them on eBay, doing Zeus-knows-what with the rest. I know for a fact he's eBay-aware and, having sneaked a peek or two in the stock room, it's clear he's keeping a lot of VEDDY interesting goodies for himself.

After all, why sell a rare Avalon Hill game for $3 to some local schmuck when someone on the internet will fork over a hundred bucks or more for it?

It's either that or he's making blue meth in the ladies room. Either way, I think I'm in the wrong business.

=Lefty=