Here’s a funny donation that sombody brought in today. Somebody came in and said that she heard that local shelter needed diapers for babies. The younger woman brought in Depends. 
She must have never needed a diaper for a baby before. 
Do you have an out of place donation story?
I worked at a donation collection center in North Carolina after Hurricane Floyd. The event was successful, but I do remember a few odd things:
[ul]
[li]one guy showed up several times with rolls of very old wall-to-wall carpeting[/li][li]in the clothes pile, a 48DDD bra that hadn’t been washed in awhile[/li][li]a box of unidentifiable plastic parts labeled “toys”[/li][li]lots of cleaning chemicals, but nothing to clean with (sponges, mops, etc.)[/li][/ul]
I also remember a canned goods drive in high school…the teacher who organized the event had to make an announcemet one morning to explain that peanuts and nuts were not the only canned foods available at the grocery store.
When I worked at the local Humane Society, we had a large “doghouse” shaped shed out to the side of the building, clearly marked on all four sides “newspapers only”. One of the workers decided to go and check to see how full it was, and I am sure glad he did. Someone had dumped a half-grown lab puppy in there, and the dog hadn’t made a sound. Fortunately, he didn’t seem to have been in there very long, and was in good shape. We made a policy of checking the shed every day after that.
Jeep’s Phoenix let us know when sombody brings in a bucket of mud labeled pie dough (play doh).
Not exactly a donation story, but we had a white elephant gift exchange at Christmas time one year. I created the flyer for it and emphasized that we didn’t want people to spend money; they were to wrap an existing, used item from their home that they no longer wanted.
One of my co-workers wrapped up a box of mangled, twisted, tangled wire coat hangers and a few pairs of worn, torn pantyhose. :eek:
So you got a mobile for Christmas.
Next time, you need to be a bit more specific. Perhaps that particular co-worker needed diagrams and detailed instructions?
Heh. None of that, though I have encountered very old “gak” (slimy stuff, can be purchased under various name brands) being presented as a “new or gently used” toy.