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Category Archives: Personal

The Week from Hell

This week has seen Australia’s north east devastated by the worst floods in living history. Indeed one of the problems for the survivors  is going to be how to learn to live with the memories of this awful event. Tough military helicopter pilots were pictured tenderly holding in their arms babies, toddlers and children whom they scooped up to safety. Some of these children witnessed the deaths of their parents or loved ones. The same military personel are now searching for the dead bodies who may well be related to those they rescued.


There is just too much to write about…the event came about due to a confluence of events but what remains in the minds eye now is the amazing spirit of our fellow Australians. They are calling today Salvation Saturday …twelve thousand volunteers came to help strangers with the cleanup of their homes and businesses. And that is not counting the thousands of others who are helping family and friends… twenty five thousand volunteers registered to help.

There was no Australian untouched by this…the television coverage was brilliant and kept the nation and the evacuated informed. Vanessa Trazise on Sky News was persoally affected by this as her brother lives in one of the areas which was decimated. She covered teh news and was almost ghost like in her appearance…teh next day she told her viewers that her brother and family lived there and she had not known then whether he was alive or not.

 

 

A Few Reasons Why Australia Needs a Charity Oversight Committee

You may have read my last post on an incident in a charity shop in Sydney recently where my donation of a dress was taken and tried on immediately in front of me. I wrote about it here. This is not a common occurrence anymore as so many of the charity shops have become more corporatised. Vinnies in particular is very professional in that respect…in the city anyway I can not speak to the way things are done in the country where there is usually only a paid manager and volunteers.

I have had so many great experiences in charity shops helping people with choices and oftentimes doing repairs for people who cannot normally afford a dressmaker. Not to mention the fabulous clothing and antiques I have found! But like so many things in life when something does go wrong it really leaves a sour taste and impacts the way I perceive the charity and their shop and ultimately how much I donate and buy.

Obviously I have an issue with abuse of donations. To me it is dishonest and does not honor the intent of the donor. I consider selling things at too low a price an abuse of donations as well. I am not alone, MARY PORTIAS, who instituted changes in Save the children shops in Britain said herself that she had not given any of her own designer clothing to charity shops because they would not know what to do with them.

What really galls in Australia anyway is that there is nowhere to go with complaints or incidents. Overseas there are many Charity Oversight Committees, etc. Britain also has a Association of Charity Shops where good things and bad can be reported. Oftentimes it is enough that one has been seen to be heard. As you know I am still in the middle of the VINNIES thing. The bullying issue is so pervasive in VINNIES that the head office formed an investigative committee but even they cannot effect an apology or make changes. They can make suggestions I believe….the charity shops are only one arm of VINNIES  which is a huge retailer in NSW …on par with WOOLWORTHS I believe. So they have a huge task ahead of them where the culture of bullying is endemic.

The ONE NOFFS shops which are under the direct supervision of RUPERT NOFFS likewise have a problem during the week anyway in that apart from a select few ladies they have largely well intentioned but mostly unprofessional volunteers who often when I am there spend the entire time checking out clothing for themselves. Yes in front of me…you would think they would have enough downtime that they could at least do it when the shop is empty. Rupert is so busy in my opinion running new venture after new venture that he has let the charity shops that already exist slide. Unless of course there is a television crew or newspaper reporter around. When I first met him he was excited about the shops and the opening of the new shop on Elizabeth Street however as far as I can recall the warehouse was not even mentioned in the ABC Compass programme THE NEW NOFFS. Of course that could have been the way the ABC cut the show but it is interesting that the staff at the warehouse shop did not know about the programme and were most distressed to be out of the loop.

After I published my last post two days ago on the dress being tried on Rupert Noffs contacted me and asked me if I would take the post down saying “please please  please remove it it” and “it would be helpful if you did not post blogs on this”. Maybe I should not be surprised after his response to my previous email when I mentioned that the staff did not know about the COMPASS PROGRAMME. I also sent a copy to his father as I saw he was the CEO of the NOFFS FOUNDATION and was answering the commentors on the ABC website….and he is the age of a lot of the volunteers in their shop.

“Wesley doesn’t recall conversing with you. Where did you write this? I hope not on a public domain. This will put a lot of stress on my family. More stress than there already is.”

So I am left with getting the word out on my own blog so that people are aware of what happens to their donations and also to people who try to bring attention to something….for the public good. I think that is what galls me the most about a lot of charities…not just shops attached to them…transparency and accountability. I would appreciate any ideas on how to go about getting some kind of Committee or Association going and who to contact about it.

And this is what bloggers do…. get the word out…it is not spreading hate as Rupert Noffs seemed to think when he said in his email to me.

“lets spread love not hate…we are a charity”



Beware dealing with St Vincent De Paul in Sydney….part two

UPDATE 10/8/10

…John Picot, the society’s NSW chief executive, and Danny Klepac, the NSW executive officer for operations  “are no longer employed by the society” as of Monday 9th August 2010. I obviously welcome this and hope that the grassroots of the charity …the Conferences can be re-incorporated back into the Centres now. One of the most  distressing things my husband faced was seeing volunteers of thirty years being fazed out of doing their “good works’…usually because it did not fit in with the head office’s ideas.

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You might have seen the news recently where the National Council of St Vincent De Paul Australia suspended or stood aside the board of NSW due to a culture of bullying. I welcome this and have contacted the National Council who have established an Investigative Unit.

Today I spoke to Donna in Canberra who said in an email last month that I would be heard…after all that my husband and I had suffered at the hands of paid senior staff in NSW . Donna said a lot of people were very emotional about this issue…..that there is a long list of complaints and that my being emotional would not be looked down upon as she herself became emotional when she read my email.

I have wondered at the emotion this still causes..in me…and I think it is because of the powerlessness one feels when one’s name and reputation is being blackened by the very people who pledge Social Justice for all.

This powerlessness is not helped by the likes of journalists like David Marr and Joel Gibson who knew of our issues with Vinnies and declined to write anything about it. David Marr however wrote a story on Saturday about the President and other people involved….at a much higher level than a mere centre manager of course.

I guess that is also where the feeling of powerlessness comes from…when one has a story about social injustice and nobody wants to hear it or act on it ….when it is deemed not important enough to act upon. After my complaint was virtually ignored last year I sent emails  to the Human Resources Manager and the person who said I was “disbelieved” and told them I was not happy with the finding and wanted to take it further…I never heard from them again.

Well, they will be hearing from me again.

Fall From Grace

 

 

Popped up yesterday to Westfield Bondi Junction to meet a lovely lady who bought one of my pieces of LIBERTY by ROBERT GORDON china. I started collecting this set around my 50th birthday …so almost five years ago. I asked DAVID JONES if they would still have it for a few seasons and was assured they would but as always next season there were a few rogue pieces and that was it. So I was stuck with a few pieces and I had been so looking forward to collecting it but apart from my local coffee/homewares shop and occasionally at Vinnies I have not seen it again. It is even scarce on ebay so I am pleased that a piece is going to someone who really wants it.

What is it with these places putting out new ranges…..or several new ranges of china every year? If you cannot buy it all then, including spares, you are really stuck. Not everyone can buy entire sets all at once and like me not everyone wants to…where is the joy in collecting in that?  My son had a similar experience with a gorgeous coloured willow pattern which was on a huge display in the David Jones city store next to the Portmeirion. When he started collecting it every time he went shopping he asked if it would still be available in future. You can guess what happened, he is stuck with one serving of everything and a strangely untraceable brand, PALATE. I mean try googling palate…its ludicrous!

 

While I was at WESTFIELD I took some time to think about the poor Jewish man who took his life there a few weeks ago. I was also thinking about the appalling response to the tragedy by a member of their upper echelon.  It is in the newspaper reports what Mark Ryan, Westfield Group Director of Corporate Affairs, said about the gawkers …and not moving the gawkers along or shutting the centre. Heaven forbid that someone’s death might get in the way of anyone spending a dollar….or thousand.  Apparently lots of people were filming and texting as I imagine it was unusual to see a fully Orthodox Jewish person in such a situation. Maybe they were interested in seeing how the police handled it. A young chap who caught the whole thing on camera put it on Youtube because he was so appalled by the apathy of the staff. Not the …splatter…but the awful last minutes of this man’s life and the camera person clearly asking why Westfield were not moving the public out of the way. Do pay careful attention to the comments on the first link I have highlighted here…among these comments are those by workers and others who witnessed the event.

 

While we are talking about Westfield and David Jones, good on the ex CEO of DJ’s resigning today for “inappropriate conduct toward a female staff member” at a function. As regular readers of my blog know, not all companies admit when there is any form of harassment and this guy named and shamed himself. Perhaps it was all about to come out and he got in ahead of time but we know that is not always the case. Some companies turn it around and blame the  victim.  Well done David Jones and let us hope the young lady manages to go back to work and that her case is managed well by her lawyers. Another mistake we made apparently…..not getting lawyers involved before we made our complaints.

 

laura in stitches

Have been super busy selling especially this past week and am almost through my many sizes of clothing which I have had stored in vain hope of getting into them one day! I am so pleased that so many women are wearing and loving my  clothing. This stunning outfit above is a mixture of LAURA ASHLEY USA and STITCHES AUSTRALIA. During the five years I have had this skirt I only wore it once and since I bought the jacket earlier this year my friend borrowed the outfit for an event so it is almost new. Silk and cotton the jacket is fabulous quality as to be expected of LAURA ASHLEY and the skirt is just that little bit different…I think the outfit works well so I am selling it as a set.

I found lots of great things in Vinnies today..it was 50% off clothing which was great and I also bought some fabulous beaded jewellery to gift with my clothing sales…yeah! Ted Noffs was also a success as I found my friend a lovely HOT OPTIONS jacket to go with a PER UNA skirt which arrived today from ebay.uk! I also pointed out to the volunteers at One Noffs some pieces by a designer [VICKY VALE] which I felt would work well in their more exclusive designer store. I found several pieces and they are very current, Victorian Gothic style in black velvet, yum!

What's the deal with these thrift store primadonna's part two

Had an interesting experience in Vinnies today….after having such wonderful and positive experiences on ebay it was a real eye opener as to perhaps why so many people are going the ebay route. As you know I have had a few problems before...only ever in a particular store ..usually I prefer to encourage and praise the workers but after my husband’s case of workplace bullying was found in the favour of his supervisor and my own complaint was on balance disbelieved I guess I simply cannot take any crap from them anymore.

I went into the store with intent of finding some plus sized clothes…a mammoth job as most clothes there are in standard sizes and it takes forever to go through all of the ladies and also the mixed clothes downstairs. Out of the whole store there may be around five  plus sized items…and the store has two levels of women’s clothing….that is how big a job it is.  Also problematic are the racks which are stuffed to the max with clothing…one rack over another one and the racks are full of clothing on really flimsy hangers which constantly snap in one’s hand. So after checking out a third of the downstairs I popped upstairs to check the ladies shirts and jackets etc. By then my hands had gone.

A little explanation…due to my silly arthritis and accompanying stenosis of the spinal column in my cervical and thoracic vertebrae I have trouble raising my arms above waist height …my hands go all pins and needles …and they hurt…and then they go numb and I  start to drop things. I dropped several tops which I was buying but I left them at my feet as I knew I would only drop them again and I was still looking through the lower rack.  A man I took to be a volunteer …he was wearing an apron and was muttering to himself as he went through the store  repeatedly….I kept getting out of his way as there is no room to manouvre in this shop anymore. Anyway he came upstairs just as I dropped the shirts and I heard him say…as he looked at the things at my feet…okay just drop them there ..that’s the way to do it…or words to that effect.

I must say I was chagrined and mortified to be spoken to like that and when a few minutes later a worker I know came upstairs and asked if something was wrong I said yes…. I did not like being spoken to by the volunteer that way. I said I felt he was a little unusual and had been rude. A booming what has this particular volunteer done came from behind me and  bugger me if he was not directly behind me …totally invading my body space and I felt inappropriately questioning me about what I was discussing with the worker. Well, not one to back down, not after our previous experiences….I repeated I did not like to be spoken to like that. He said he was telling someone else to leave donations somewhere……even though he was looking at me and I saw no other person…although there could have been one….I did not see one however.

Well then I apologised and said I was sorry …that it was bad timing that it happened as he said it to a customer but he was very shirty and kept saving aggressively…I am so over this …it is gone it is nothing etc etc. Well it was not over as I felt both  my body space and my disability had been poorly treated. I went downstairs and saw him chatting to the workers on the cash register and he then went upstairs again brushing past me in quite an unusual manner.  I asked the workers if the manager was in and they said they would get her. She came down and apologised and said something like …you know we have problems with some people not being able to talk to people properly. I said …yes but I felt that you should know as if it happened to me it could happen to others. I also explained a little about my health and how difficult it is to shop there since the new overstocking of the racks came in. She said to let her know if they could help get anything down for me…which was sweet but not really the point.

So all in all a good day as my clothing order from the US came in the post…trust me you have never seen the like of these jackets etc…silk and embossed, embroidered or quilted! The whole experience was pleasant even picking up the parcels! I did however find a stunning Liz Claiborne handbag and two lovely shirts for myself in Vinnies….I think it was worth it…..I hope so anyway…it just leaves  a nasty taste in the mouth. Where is Mary Queen of Charity Shops when you need her?

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