A Surprising Thrift Store Find

  So ever since thrift stores are now open again, I can enjoy looking around them again. So as usual I keep checking them every day. I lost my job due to COVID-19 and have all the time in to go to thrift stores again. So last Saturday, I went to the other thrift store, that isn't The Salvation Army. I wasn't hoping to find anything decent there but I did find something cool that I like.

My new Chevrolet Winner's Circle hat

  Ever since they expanded this thrift store, there are more rooms full of items to explore. For instance they have a room with a mannequin in the running position for sale. The mannequin takes the cake. No I didn't buy the mannequin. Seeing a mannequin for sale is just strange.
  Anyway I did my looking around and decided to check the hat rack. Usually this thrift store has a decent hat selection. The Salvation Army has been hit or miss with hats lately. While checking the hat rack, I noticed a hat on the bottom, it had the Chevrolet bow tie logo and Winner's Circle on the back. Could it be an authentic Chevrolet Winner's Circle hat like the race car drivers wear? If so I had to have it. I picked up the hat and indeed it was an authentic Winner's Circle hat. Best part was it was $0.99 and appeared to be unworn. So this was one of those shut up and take my money situations. I have a ton of hats in my collection. a good majority of them I don't wear.

The back of my new Chevrolet Winner's Circle hat.

  I already had a Chevrolet Winner's Circle hat that my coworker gave me when he was cleaning out his NASCAR collection. However that hat was an unstructured hat. It was a mesh hat which was a positive thing. On the other side it is an unstructured hat. I don't really care for unstructured hats. Although I do have a few in my collection.
  This new Chevrolet Winner's Circle hat has the textured Chevrolet Bow Tie logo. My other 2 Chevrolet hats don't have the textured bow tie. This one gives it the new modern look. I'm shocked that the thrift store didn't charge more for this hat because of how nice it was. Heck for $0.99 I'll take it regardless. I've beaten the eBay prices for it. Not that I was in the market to buy one on eBay. I wasn't. I do look up victory lane hats on eBay from time to time to see what's out there.

I Officially Lost my Job Today

  Earlier in April I got laid off from my job as a maintenance person at a car dealership due to the whole COVID 19 pandemic. However in my few months of working there since June 24th of 2019, I learned today that I am not going to be called back at all.
  Looking back at those few months of working at the car dealership, I had a lot of fun working there. The pay wasn't exactly great but I was grateful working there for the time I did. I did manage to snag some awesome free hats, and some other oddities from the dealership. So I'm definitely grateful for all of the stuff I got from my job.
  In my few months that I worked there I managed to get a framed poster of a Ford Windstar. It was in the attic. Yes, oddly enough the dealership had an attic where they stored old parts and service manuals, and files. As one person who worked there called it the dinosaur room. That framed Windstar picture now proudly hangs in the wall in my attic. Ironically I despise minivans but I have a framed Ford Windstar poster on my attic wall.
  During my months there I also shredded tons of old documents. Some of these documents were auction files from cars that were sent to the auction. In some of those auction files were car keys. This baffled me because how can sets of keys be left behind from a car that was sent to the auction. I acquired a lot of old car keys for my collection.
  I was able to acquire car emblems from the body shop that were being discarded. I accumulated a little collection of emblems. They are all in a shoe box in my collection room. I looked forward to finding a badge from a car company I didn't have. I never did get a hood ornament from there though.
  I managed to get a promotional Shelby GT500/GT350 coffee mug, which is my favorite coffee mug to use. I also got a hood shaped business card holder as well. Although I don't have any business cards to call my own, the ones I accumulate go in to the holder.
  I also found an old clipboard from Midas that was in the attic. How that got at a Ford Dealership is beyond me. It's a neat clipboard too. It is designed to look like a form and shows you how to fill out the form. It's a very odd piece for my collection.
  Then there was the Tool trucks that came to the shop. I loved going on the Snap-on truck ever since I went on one with my dad to get the magnetic hex shank warrantied. My dad used to buy Snap-on Tools and I kinda went on the truck to pay tribute to my late father. I did buy a few bits for my ratcheting screwdriver and bought 2 mini tip Phillips screwdrivers. I also got one of my Dad's old wrenches warrantied. I also acquired a ton of Snap-on Hats including a 100th anniversary hat.
 I also acquired hats from other companies that we did business with. I got 2 hats from a tire distributor, and 2 from another. I also got a Motorcraft hat and a AC Delco hat.
  It was a fun couple of months working there. Am I going to miss working there? Absolutely. I'll move on and find another job somewhere else. I'll wait a few weeks to get my unemployment and start looking for something elsewhere. Thanks for the memories and being able to meet great people.