We've donated and shopped at this Goodwill location many times since it's close to home--but after this experience, we're seriously reconsidering.
My wife and a friend went in recently. While browsing, my wife took a sweater off a hanger to look at it but didn't hang it back up. An employee named Jakob (tall Caucasian guy with "Denise" tattooed on his forehead) approached her and asked her to hang it back up because, in his words, "that's my job." It's frustrating--he seemed annoyed about doing exactly what he's paid to do. If every customer put items back perfectly, there wouldn't be a need for floor staff.
He took it and rehung it himself, then walked off muttering. At that point, the situation already felt off. But then he approached her again to ask if she had left a cart full of items in the women's section. She said no. He asked again, like he didn't believe her.
Now it had gone from passive-aggressive to confrontational. My wife felt intimidated--she was being questioned by a man who was visibly frustrated and couldn't seem to control his emotions. She was there to browse, not be interrogated.
When I arrived and asked him his name, he asked why. I calmly said it was because I wanted to know the name of the person who was harassing my wife. I didn't raise my voice, didn't cause a scene. Yet he kept repeating to himself that he needed to calm down--as if he was trying to talk himself down in the middle of a basic, civil conversation.
Then he tried to explain his side of the story--as if I was going to take the word of a complete stranger over my wife's.
This whole interaction was unnecessary and unprofessional. It made my wife uncomfortable, and it made us both question why someone with such a short fuse is working in a customer-facing role. If this is what Goodwill considers acceptable employee behavior, they need to seriously reevaluate their training and hiring practices.
My advice to Jakob: if putting items back and speaking calmly with customers is too much, retail might not be the right fit. And wherever you go next--just be prepared. You're still going to have to do your job. read more