file under "NOW I’ve seen EVERYthing"
I grew up with a hatred of pawn shops and Rent-a-Centers because they profit only from the poverty of others. I particularly hate their ad tactics and their placement in places where folks "need" them most.
Today I was walking through a Spendy neighborhood near Leschi, when I saw a white SUV with hot pink "People Pawn" stickers on the sides. It's a mobile pawn shop that will come to your "home or office" to exchange petty cash for jewels, electronics and presumably guns. At what kind of office exactly is it appropriate to have the People Pawn SUV parked outside? What?! I'd already visited the "Yuppie Pawn shop" in Lake Forest Park. (Basically for folks who feel like they're giving too much away when they send their REI jackets and older model Cuisinart to the Goodwill.) I always thought of Pawning something as a kind of desperate act, so I can see how the place may benefit from availability... getting there before you think twice about trading heirlooms to pay the electric bill, but the "office" part just doesn't add up for me.
That said, the org I serve IS in the middle of a big fundraising campaign, and we ARE looking under every rock at this point....
Nah. Forget it, what would they give me for some fingerpaintings and a lego helicopter anyway?
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