HFHSTL ReStore!

            My time at May Project has been pretty interesting! Well, kinda. The first day I went (on Wednesday, since AP Comp Sci was on Tuesday), I showed up at the ReStore in Des Peres. The ReStore is a warehouse that uses donated items from houses and whatnot, like tile (lots, and lots of tile), old toilets, doors, floorboards, etc., and has it organized by section so that they can sell it easily (and for a much lower price than at your typical Lowe's or Home Depot). Sometimes the stuff is pretty new, and sometimes it looks pretty gross.

            Anyway, so it was Wednesday morning at 10:00, and when I got to the front door, there was a group of people there with blue shirts that had #servewithLiberty and "SERVE with Liberty" on them. I found out later that they were there for some sort of team building exercise in their workplace. We got let in by this guy named Chad, who gave us a quick tour of the ReStore, then showed us to the back door/storage space, where there was a huge pile of tulips. Imagine a pickup truck full of tulips in the back, multiply that by two, and you have how many tulips there were. He explained that we were supposed to put these tulips into a bag so that they could successfully do their annual tulip sale that Saturday. It wasn't just tulips in the pile though-- there were orange peels, earthworms, and even a random fork or spoon here or there. It took the eleven of us almost three hours, but we finished rather quickly, judging by Chad's reaction. By then, it was around 12:30, so I went back into the store and asked one of the employees, Erin, what I should do next. She had me labeling and pricing random pieces of hardware (for lack of a better term?), like doorknobs and hinges and some other pieces of metal. I priced for around two hours, and then my day was over at around 2:00.

            The next day was pretty much the same thing. Show up at 10:00, but this time, Erin had even more stuff for me to price and mark. I had to put the color, such as polished chrome, nickel, or brass, the retail price, and then the ReStore price (which was usually the retail price cut in half and then rounded down).

            On Friday, however, I had physical therapy in the morning, so I decided to go to the Forest Park ReStore in the afternoon. The two stores couldn't be any more different. Where the Des Peres ReStore was big, spacious, and pretty organized, the Forest Park ReStore was kind of a mess. It was small and cramped with stuff. The guy at the desk (his name was MJ), showed me to the back of the store where I could put my stuff. After I set down my lunch (I hadn't eaten yet, but I was too intimidated to ask if I could eat before he had me doing anything), MJ showed me to the tile section of the store, which was a complete disaster, and told me to do the best I could with it. I can't really bend down and pick things up, or squat, because of my knee, so it was kind of hard to do, not to mention a little mundane and boring by myself. I shifted around some tile in the middle section of the shelves and tried to match them by size or at least make it a little more accessible (but it was still a mess). Here are some pictures of the tile section (there's a lot of tile!):

            The ReStore's not open on Mondays, which is good because that meant I could go to one of my physical therapy appointments on Monday, but I was there when the Forest Park ReStore opened on Tuesday (the Des Peres one is open Wednesday through Sunday). This time, however, I showed up at 9:00 am, and saw Charlotte Wiland there! She said that she'd been working in the administrative offices for the majority of her May Project, but that she would be in the ReStore on Tuesdays and Thursdays. It was nice to have some other people to work with, and to do it in the morning (because it drags on like you wouldn't believe in the afternoon). There was another kid from CBC there too. His name was Darren-- CBC has some community service project that the juniors do, so he was there to fulfill his hours requirement. I pushed some carts around, but Darren and Charlotte did most (well, all) of the lifting for the heavy things. Then MJ had us try to do tile again, which was still a mess. I had a lot of fun though.

            On Wednesday, I went back to the Des Peres ReStore, but Erin had run out of plastic bags and trinkets for me to label, so I sat around a lot. Then we figured out that I could metal sweep the entire store, so I got this rolling contraption with a giant magnet attached to the bottom so I could get the nails and other non-aluminum things from the floor. Then I actually swept (with a normal broom), the store again. Here's a picture of the metal sweeper:

            In the afternoon, there was this guy who had driven all the way from Georgia (!!!) to pick up this piece of granite (for his wife, I think? We never really understood why), except he came in a car that resembled a mini cooper? So there we were, with a huge slab of granite that DEFINITELY didn't fit in his car, and this elderly man who insisted it would fit. So Alan, Chad and Erin could only sit back and sip from their respective containers of fluids (Alan had this gigantic thing of mountain dew that he would drink from periodically-- I thought it was water at first, but Erin informed me otherwise). Then this guy went and rented or bought a diamond cutter, so that he could cut up the granite slab. He left the granite with the store, and then came back later in the afternoon, around 5:00 pm, and started to cut the granite by himself, creating a huge cloud of dust and noise. He was still going by the time I left at 6:00 pm, so I hope he got back to Georgia all right.

            I had a doctor's appointment on Thursday about my knee, so I showed up at the Forest Park ReStore a little late, but Charlotte and Darren were there again, which was fun. They lifted some tubs and whatnot around, but we mostly dealt with furniture and whatnot again (like moving items marked with "SOLD" into the holding section, which was already packed in and of itself anyway).

            The Latin AP was on Friday, but I thought it was in the morning so I got confused and all, but I don't think I could've fit my hours around the AP anyway. So the next time I went was on Tuesday. This time, Darren wasn't there but Paige, a new girl, was, along with Charlotte. They were moving sinks and whatnot, so MJ just had me organize the garbage disposal things (which had a bad odor, I think? Unless I just imagined it). Then, after they were done moving stuff around, MJ had us cleaning bathtubs (which were so gross; they were coated in dirt, grime, dust, dead bugs, you name it, it probably had it). Darren decided to show up at noon, and then we just cleaned and organized certain areas of the store (like miscellaneous-- that ALWAYS needs organizing), while MJ smashed toilets. Then, he had me organize the lumber section near Holding (which turned out pretty nice, if I do say so myself). Speaking of... Charlotte and I had been trying to get a video of them smashing furniture outside, but we got a video of MJ smashing toilets and boxes instead!

            On Wednesday, I went to Forest Park again, and mostly hauled things around on carts and organized stuff (yet again). I'm completely blanking on what happened that day... Oh! There were two new guys who showed up, but I only caught one of their names (Ben). We organized tile for a long time, and then I helped move some more tile in the afternoon (that came in from donations). Darren also showed up late again, around 11:00. And there was this guy who wanted to donate an entire cabinet set after donation hours were closed, but he was none too happy that MJ wouldn't take it, so he showed up on Thursday morning in a huff and dropped it off.

            On Thursday, I felt like I could maybe lift a few light things here and there, so I hauled some toilet parts to help restock the toilet section. They were kinda heavy, but mostly manageable. MJ didn't show up until 12:00, so Damien was in charge of Charlotte and me, which meant we cleaned the occasional cabinet, moved around some things, and carried things back into Holding. When MJ showed up, it was about time for Charlotte to leave, but I stayed behind to organize cabinet doors and whatnot. I got some nice gloves so I actually had a grip on these doors! By the time I was done, I think it looked pretty nice.

            My last day was Friday. It was kinda sad for me to leave. I really enjoyed coming to the ReStore and listening to MJ talk (he REALLY likes to talk) and make conversation with me. Even though I wasn't much help in the physical labor department, MJ said that I always made him laugh, which is good, I think? Looking back on it, I had a lot of fun, even if I got tired really easily because of my knee (who knew standing was so tiring?). But as it improved, I was able to help with certain things, like organizing the blinds and the lumber section downstairs, as well as moving toilets onto a truck (I'm not actually sure if I'm allowed to lift things or not so hopefully this doesn't screw up my leg forever!). Tom, Damien, MJ, Brian, Craig and RJ were all so much fun to talk to. Tom always made me laugh, with his jokes and dance moves. I told MJ that I'll definitely drop by sometime (and actually go inside, instead of just honking and driving by, like Tom suggested haha), and when my leg gets better, maybe I'll be able to go back and actually help with the lifting and whatnot next time. (Here's a couple of last pictures of the car top that was outside the store, but then some guy bought it and put it on his truck on my last day...)

(Edit: No matter what I do, everything is in "smallest" font... Help??? Except for this single line of font, ugh.)