volunteering

Decorators

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We had the decorators in Oxfam last week and I could (easily) bore you with how as the only childless volunteer, I went in on Mother’s Day (with the best beloved) to help the ever-patient Oxfam manager get all the books off all the shelves.

I could further (very extensively) bore you with getting them back on the shelves (a much longer and back-breaking business) with a rally of other volunteers on Thursday. (Sorry for all the brackets, but don’t you think ‘rally’ is a good collective noun for volunteers?)

Suffice it to say, that we re-opened on Friday with pretty much all in place, a new table display, a window display and all in all ship-shape and Bristol fashion.

But although the door into the shop had been painted, the door to the upstairs and the one to the back where the books are ‘dumped’ were not, and distinctly shabby they look.

On Monday I was snuffling around the shop (seeing as it is a time for brackets, I will mention this is my third cold in as many months and not welcome) when I saw a man outside looking very intently at the windows and signage.

He came in and introduced himself as the Oxfam building inspector come to check that the ‘works’ had been done.

I said how pleased we were with the newly painted walls and although no customer had walked into the shop saying “ Blimey, what a great re-decoration,” we felt the place looked fresher.

I said that it really didn’t matter that the skirting boards had not been painted, as not many customers were likely to notice those.

But, I said, the doors do look really shabby and let the side down rather. I said (rather disingenuously) that I didn’t know whether the fault lay with the decorators. (I had asked the man still there on Thursday and he had said they were told not to paint the doors.)

I would like to say the man didn’t feel browbeaten, but he did concede defeat and rang the contractors to say, paint the doors, do it when the shop is shut, and do it soon.

Thank you.

(Not much to the outside world but to the small universe that is the Oxfam shop in Petersfield, that means a lot and by the way, despite being only open for two days last week, we took more than £1,000.)

(End of brackets.)

Customer Satisfaction II

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I once found a big old bible in a donation to the Oxfam bookshop where I work.

Actually it was more than a bible, it had other bits but I am no bible expert.

Anyway, it was old, and on the few blank pages it had Peter Gundry married to Sarah Sager in 1765 and then a listing of all the children, their deaths and a family history onwards listing births, marriages and deaths.

It was not worth much as it was – no one these days wants to buy old family bibles unless they have a connection.

So, I decided to try and track down the family because I wanted it to go to a good home and be appreciated.

I just googled their names and lo and behold, they came up in a site which, though it does not advertise the fact, is run by the Mormons who apparently have some belief about ancestors and naming them means they get into heaven – maybe someone will correct me if that is wrong.

I found out where they were married, Calne in Wiltshire and then spent some weeks tracking down anyone who was researching their history.

Family history sites want you to sign up and pay and don’t give out information – all very well and proper, but not much use to me.

Then I was idling away and hour or so on this research whilst making supper (a risotto should you ask) when I came across an email attached to a search about Gundry’s.

So I contacted the woman whose email I could see, and yes, she was looking into Gundry’s, though another branch.

But she bought the bible and promised me that if she could locate the right branch of the family, she would pass it to them and if not, she would hand it over to some family history archive.

It was a good when I found her name, and the risotto was not bad either.

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Customer Satisfaction

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I think I may have mentioned that our Oxfam shop has gone from being in the doldrums and not doing very well at all, to being classed as ‘outstanding.’

(I may have to mention this once or twice again – we are very pleased with ourselves.)

Previously we had an area manager who had, shall we say, very definite views on how things should be done and was very definite about the absolute need to do them that way.

Then we had her replacement who said more along the lines of ‘ don’t know if that idea will work, but give it a go and see.’

Now our sales are up by 17% etc etc.

Anyone with a management development background or just a smidgen of common sense will know that this is not rocket science and a dictatorial management style is only of any use in very limited circumstances.

Should any Army officers be reading, I am sure they could fill us in on when that style is not only advisable but necessary – but an Oxfam bookshop is rarely going to fall into any of his/her categories.

But I didn’t mean to go into a long essay about management styles, I wanted to mention some of the satisfaction you get when you work in the shop.

I was upstairs the other day and the intercom phone buzzed and a colleague said there was a man in the shop looking for any books on Nordic history.

Not something we get a lot of. However, I found a book written in Danish on Nordic gold hordes which I had put to one side because the pictures were lovely and I thought we might be able to sell it in a display on art books.

I went downstairs and found a young man looking like as horny-handed son of toil who looked at the book doubtfully – as well he might.

“ Mmm,” he said, “not quite what I was looking for.”

I asked him to tell me what he wanted in some more detail and then we would take his number and if I can across anything more useful, I would call him.

“Runes,” he said. He told me he was carving runes and wanted some images to copy and use as research.

So, I went back upstairs to look on the shelves where we put ‘esoteric’ – a term which covers anything from ghost stories and angels-spoke-to-me books to Australian ley lines. (Actually had he wanted any of those books, we had copies.)

The trouble was that a landslide of donated books needing gift aiding were in the way, so several hundreweight of books had to be shifted to get to the shelf and no, there was nothing on runes.

I went to head back downstairs when the colleague who had helped me shift the books said, “Wait!”

And of course, dear reader, there it was – a small book with detailed drawings and picture of runes.

The book cost the customer £2.49 but it gave us all a lot of satisfaction.

You can’t judge a book by its cover

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Once I realised that heady amounts of freelance work were not going to come my way in Deepest Sussex, I decided to make myself useful.

I looked around and saw the Oxfam bookshop was looking for volunteers.

I had always liked the idea of working in a bookshop but I thought more in terms of a venerable shop, owned and run by a venerable white-haired man with wonky venerable floorboard and lots of rare volumes.

Oxfam, I thought, would be more John Grisham (who actually is a great writer) at one end of the shelf and Joanna Trollope at the other.

I know that sounds snobbish but, be honest, what do you think when you think ‘charity bookshop’?

Anyway, we were both wrong.

It is fascinating – a whole lot more complex and interesting than I had thought.

If you become my regular reader, you will hear more about the Oxfam bookshop but here is just a taster.

Somewhere in the not too distant geography, there must be a retirement home for clergymen ( and perhaps some women) and they die. This means that every now and then we get a large donation of religious books: A Prayer for Every Day for Young Folk; Where Jesus Lived – 100 Images of the Holy Land; Finding God in the Countryside……

About one in three of these collections has a copy of the Karma Sutra ( with illustrations.)

At first I was surprised, now I look for it.

On that note, I found a book the other week called ‘A Fanfare of Strumpets.” Isn’t that a brilliant book title?

Whilst we are on the subject, we have a collection ( gathered from various donations) of 19th and early 20th century (mild) erotica. We have been wondering whether we could contact the other Oxfam bookshops in the area and ask them to send us what they get – they cannot , obviously, sell them in their shop – so we can amass a collection and sell to a dealer.

Petersfield Porn Emporia………….