Monday, September 21, 2009

Bookstore Moments

These bookstore moments are brought to you by a part-time worker with tired feet.

  • Parents always amaze me. This time it was the two who parked themselves in the coffee shop at the front of the store and let their child, pacifier still in mouth, toddle back and forth dragging books from the children's department at the back of the store to the cafe at the front of the store. Yeah, I'm guessing you can figure out what the children's department (and the cafe) looked like when they left.
  • The lady in nursing school who wanted a book to help her identify the different kinds of drugs. Her friend had bought her book at our store, and she wanted the same one. Does she have a title or an author? Nope. And she is rather indignant when I can't put my finger on it immediately. I finally started pulling all the books about medicines out to the front of the shelves so she can identify it by....what else? Color and how thick it is!! Now if our computer would store that information it would be so helpful!
  • Three teenage boys who were incredibly bored on a Friday night and decided to play in the children's department at 10:30. I thought if I vacuumed, they'd take the hint that we were about to close. Nope. They were having too much fun with the toys. (Whoever put toys in a bookstore should be shot! I do nothing but pick up stuffed animals, Barbie sets, and farm machinery. Good times.) These three seemed to be captivated by the whiffling swords and the voice changer megaphone. I later found these things stashed among the Michael Crighton novels and the Science Fiction role playing books. Lovely.
  • Angriest customer of the year? A man looking for a Do-It-Yourself Divorce book. 'Nuff said. (I wasn't about to ask questions!)
It is a good thing I get a discount. I'm thinking that voice changer megaphone might capture the attention of my sophomores, and I do love those whiffling swords! ("Off with your head!")

6 comments:

margie said...

i love these little book store stories. keep em coming.

Gayle said...

Haha, that would be pretty funny if you used the voice changer in your classes! That's some interesting group of customers you've been having!

Heidi said...

We don't have toys for kids to play with in the bookstore where I work. Perhaps I now know why. Hee hee.

I think you should get the voice changer megaphone for sure.

joyce said...

I've always wondered about the new "fashion" of putting a chic coffee shop in a bookstore, sounds like a disaster waiting to happen to me.
And whaddya mean you don't file by colour? What's wrong with you :)
The teenagers...I can see myself doing that at that age, and I can see my sons doing it now. Thank god our little hicktown doesn't have a bookstore...and they'd rather die before being seen in....gasp...the library!
ps....I made my list of beliefs at my site)

ch said...

i always love bookstore moments entries...they remind me of my children's librarian days..." Super Nanny could make a season of episodes by hanging out at the children's department on a rainy afternoon...

P.S. I only have trouble leaving a comment if I haven't logged in to my google account BEFORE visiting you...and even then, the comment isn't lost...I'm just prompted to sign in...

christina said...

ha ha- do it yourself divorce! poor guy!
xo