Well this just ruined my whole day.

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I'M not sure if this is the right place to post this, so I apologize if this is incorrect.

I have many things that I've been obsessed with throughout my life, but there have been a few special interests that have been with me all my life. The main two special interests I have are music and teddy bears. I'm blind, so I can't drive, and I go to college in a town where the transportation sucks canal water. Whenever I can get out, I love to go to thrift stores to look for bears. i like the ones from the hadjs and 90s because they are really good quality and they also just feel way better than new ones. Also, it's not just bears, but any animal as long as I like the way they feel.

I finally found a cab driver who wouldn't rip me off, so I went to Goodwill. I had to get assistance from a lady who worked there because of my non-working eyeballs. The lady seemed perfectly lovely, but when I asked her whether that store had the unfortunate practice that a lot of Goodwills have of throwing plushies away, she told me that they do toss them, and she and one other lady are the one who does it. I feel like a real goober because I almost started to cry. I can understand them throwing away bears with holes in them or really dirty ones even thous that sucks because those things can be fixed if you know what you're ding. The thing that literally made me want to puke, though, is that this lady throws away any old plushie that she finds without even putting them out because she didn't think any kids would want to buy them. She said that she threw one away a few days ago, and he was clean and in good condition. I asked her if the bears that I bought would have been tossed if she had been the one sorting that day, and she said they would have. Apparently the only reason these bears were there at all for me to buy was because whoever sorted them didn't realize what they were. I always use analogies when I explain anything, particularly to NTs, so this is what I told the lady. I asked her what the most beautiful thing she's ever seen is, and she said the ocean. I then asked her how she would feel if somebody literally threw the whole ocean away. I think she got the point when I said that. She said she wouldn't do it anymore, so hopefully she'll keep her word and she wasn't just trying to passify the blind, autistic lady with really bad Tourette's who was almost in tears and ticcing. She said she would let everybody know, so I hope she does.

The thing that sucks is that I can't get it out of my head. I have depression, and it's messing with me to the point that even my obsessions are all dark now. Dang, it sucks. Now I gotta call the other manager and talk to her about it, and it looks like I'll have to talk to all the thrift stores in my area and make sure they're not doing that crap. Oh and sorry for the typos. I'm using a braille display hooked to my iPhone by bluetooth, so sometimes it doesn't translate correctly.

Well, now they know you want them and will care for them, they will save them for you!

G’day Tivkaball,

Try not to feel bad about the situation. Be happy that you have saved the ones you have. You are making a difference to those plushies lives, and I think only a very kind hearted person would make the effort to do what you do. I know I would feel sad if my teddy bear got thrown away, so I feel for you.

Since you like music as well, I will tell you something that should make you smile. I’m 54, and so is my bear. My name is Simon, and my bear’s name is Garfunkel

I have a little cat I rescued from a fire. It was going to be burned with other household cleared items that were in a sorry state.
I washed the cat and bring it with me when I go places.
I also have a little owl as well, and a sheep that gained a lamb.

I was really sorry to read about this.

I work at a second hand shop hanging clothes, tagging and counting them. I don't see everything that comes in but there's a guy there who likes to save soft animals and teddy bears. In the shop, there's a huge basket on top of one of the racks that's full of plushies. Recently I found a soft Bulbasaur to give to my housemate.

I'm not a soft toy collector but I appreciate that you don't want good ones to be thrown away, that's a waste.

Aww, Simon and Garfunkel, that is flippin' awesome.

I have this little elephant plushie named Tikva, who is shaped like a ball because I love balls more than any human on Earth should. I carry her everywhere I go because she helps me with my tics. I had her in my pocket so I could feel all the bears, but out of curiosity I pulled her out and asked the lady whether she would have tossed her or allowed her to be sold. She took one look at my beloved Tikva and sadly said that she would have tossed her. All I could think about was that probably some of those bears might have been someone's Tikva, but they for some reason had to part with them or else were forced to. That would be absolutely devastating if you gave away your beloved plushie thinking they were going to make someone else happy, but instead they simply get tossed like a McDonald's bag or something.

Also, if anyone is curious, Tikva means Hope in Hebrew, and you pronounce it more like Teekva, not like Tick-va unless you want to see what sensory overload looks like, blech.

I can well relate, except I’m quite a few decades older than you. Other than music, my main passion are dogs, specifically collies and Shetland sheepdogs. If you only knew how lonely it gets around this apartment complex. The only reason I don’t have either breed is I’m in public housing, and have had nothing but issues with cockroaches ever since I moved in, roughly 4 years ago. Management finally decided to evict for not keeping this apartment to US HUD cleanliness standards, which is an immediate lease violation and cause for eviction, even after telling management I’m on the spectrum. (I’ve been telling them that since I moved in this apartment, but you know NT’s, they never listen. My next stop will more than likely be a retirement home, if I can find one that will take the PA Medicaid supplement for assisted living. (And it’s only 3 homes, all of which I’m familiar with, and they’re pretty poorly run. Of course, I can no longer rely on the kindness of family, since that particular attribute no longer exists with my brothers.

Yeesh, that's terrible. I'd be posting that jazz all over social media to shame those creeps.

I try to just remember that the plushies don't have feelings, only their former owners.

That said, I still miss my big lynx that I donated because I was being pestered about clutter. I'm glad he can't miss me like I miss him.

Yeah but the point is that it's wrong and super disturbing that they're throwing them away without even bothering to let people know what they're doing. I love giving people plushies as much as I love having them myself. If I donate a bear, it means that I want that bear to go to someone who will get joy from them, and I would say a lot of people who are donating
bears, or anything for that matter, donate to Goodwill because they are trying to help people in need. If they wanted their stuff tossed they would have taken it to the dump rather than Goodwill.

This is true. I did donate plushies to Goodwill a long time ago, but then I found out they throw them away. I won't take them there anymore, and I warn other people about it as well.