Rude manager. Is it worth it?

So, if I can explain, I’ve been volunteering in a charity shop for about nearly 4 months now. I only do a few hours a week at the shop. I’m a full-time student (just started uni) and have other life commitments, but am happy giving a few hours to a good cause.

Without waffling on, the lady that manages the shop I’ve come to find is a bit rude and I’m contemplating whether it’s even worth my time continuing to volunteer there. She constantly complains about people donating what she deems “unsatisfactory” things (and imo, there’s nothing wrong with half of it) and has a right attitude. She also complains about all the other volunteers. The other week I made a mistake on the till which required her assistance (I make mistakes sometimes, I’m only human) and soon overheard her talking to another volunteer in the back complaining that I’d already been here for X amount of weeks - in other words saying I shouldn’t of made that error. I feel like I’m inconveniencing her when I ask for help.

To top last week off, there was an incident where massive bags of clothing ended up falling on a customer. They resorted to storing excess bags of donations in the customer dressing room during COVID, basically, and whoever stacked them didn’t do it very well as they all fell out onto this poor old man. The customer seemed OK and was joking about it, but I felt I needed to inform the manager because some people can get funny about that crap (injury claims and whatnot) and went out back. She was sat behind her desk, clearly in earshot of the whole thing, and looked at me like she couldn’t give two and spoke to me as if I were a child and told me to “pick it up then”. So I picked those massive bags up and once again apologised to the customer.

Would you put up with this? I’m giving up my own time to help this person when they couldn’t really give a toss. The other volunteers are a bit ignorant too, with the exception of one lady who is really nice to me and actually makes conversation. There’s one there that totally blanks me (don’t know what her problem is) and I had another older lady who volunteers complain when I was 2 minutes late to switch over from the till. Overheard her talking to the manager about this.

Thoughts?

(Sorry for the essay)
TLDR; Rude manager and I'm getting a bit fed up of her attitude.

I think the problem is you're not being paid for this work. It all sounds pretty typical for someone working in a shop, and the manager doesn't sound to be anything unusual to be honest; she probably doesn't love her job, won't get paid a huge amount and clearly finds it difficult dealing with lots of part time staff which you inevitably get in a charity shop. Working with volunteers can be difficult - they have different expectations to employees, normally expecting a bit of gratitude and appreciation as they aren't getting a pay cheque. You don't seem to be getting appreciation and it's bound to be annoying.

I don't think you're being particularly badly treated, but at the end of the day you're doing it to help a cause you support and to feel you're contributing. If the "pay-off" isn't working for you, look to support this or another charity in another way. If you're doing it in part to help you get a part time, paid job in retail, perhaps keep going while you apply so that you can demonstrate retail experience and use them for a reference.

Best of luck

As someone who used to run a charity shop, this isn't how you're supposed to be treated. Yes, you're doing it for a good cause and some experience and yes, you're not being paid, but that doesn't mean management should be be speaking to you like that. Other volunteers speaking about you within earshot is highly unprofessional and shouldn't be tolerated imo. No one expects a round of applause when volunteering but a bit of appreciation goes a long way - I always made sure I thanked volunteers for their hard work at the end of the day as I remembered how much it meant to be thanked when I was a volunteer myself.

How long have you been volunteering there for? Is there another charity shop you could volunteer in instead or would perhaps looking for paid work be more appropriate for you now?

Thanks for your response.

She definitely doesn’t enjoy her work from what I’ve seen over the time that I’ve been there. She has a hard time actually getting people to volunteer at the shop and there’s not many of us currently there. There’s been a few that have been and gone (wonder why?) and some of the reviews against the shop are extremely negative, some specifically singling out her attitude.

She does have a fair amount of work on her hands, I appreciate that fact. Re. the pay being bad, I wouldn’t know, but she’s been there for quite awhile so it must be adequate enough - who knows. All I know it doesn’t cost her much to be nice to people that give up their time to help run her shop & show a bit of common decency. It’s not really on.

I will persist for the meantime though and probably look elsewhere for paid work. As you say, it’s for a good cause, that’s the main thing.

Just accept it, if she's rude to you there's probably a good reason, and from the sounds of it you seem like quite an unpleasant person

Great advice. Actually contemplated whether or not I should respond, but I’ll bite.

She’s rude to the majority of volunteers & customers - - does that also make them unpleasant people, using your logic?