Previous post about buying books prompted me to share this amusing experience... a couple of days ago Hobbled Runner (hubby) and I had the rare occasion have having some time to spare - together - while waiting for the kids. We were near a newish independent bookstore owned by a not-to-be-named well known national radio show host who hails from Minnesota. It's a very cute cozy store in the basement of a Victorian era building. Not huge, but of course very well stocked with good books as opposed to mass market stuff. And not surprisingly, books by the radio show host/owner.
Anyway, as we were browsing, another customer asked for some books. The clerk wasn't familiar with the titles, (I sympathize, as I have been a bookseller), but he was rather inept in tracking them down. My ears perked up because one of the books the customer was seeking was published by the MHS Press- the publishers at the Historical Society. I work with their website, so am familiar with their titles.
I was finally so irritated with the inability of this clerk to find the book that I blurted out the name of the author from 4 rows over... rather irritating of me, I'm sure, but geez! I admit the name of the book escaped me at the moment, but I had the author, and he STILL had a hard time finding the book. (Have we ever heard of the internet???) Then it turns out that the author had been at the store the night BEFORE for a signing. So, in the end, I was wholly unimpressed with the staff at the store.
We bought a couple of books anyway - following my general guideline of either a) buying a book I really love or an author I really like; or b) a book that may take me a while to read so don't want to get from the library....
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2 comments:
It's depressing to hear that there's such poor customer service at an independent bookstore. I expect it at our local Border's, since the people working there never seem to know anything about books. Trying to find anything there can be an exercise in huge frustration!
Sad as it is, I bet bookstore workers don't get paid much; over at Hungry Mind they got paid peanuts, no health insurance, no benefits of any kind, so the only people who can really work there are ones who can afford not to get paid. . .there's probably a lot of turnover in staff as well.
It is depressing, though, to have people who work with books not have a deep love and understanding for them, though, isn't it? Books shouldn't just be stock, like it was cabbages or something.
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