Wednesday, 7 September 2011

A-ha! Finally, science attempts to back me up when I say that spoilers don’t matter or are irrelevant! Seriously, this is why I love spoilers. It doesn’t stress me out to read/watch a movie anymore.

Although, I’ll admit, I’ll Wikipedia a horror movie if I think I’ll freak without knowing any details. LOL.

#spoiler,    #book,    #bookstore,    #bookshelf,    #blu-rays,    #movies,    #film,    #bored,    #answers,    #know,    #spoilers    #books    #literacy    #plot    #good    #bookseller    #bookshelves    #tower    #dvds    #films    #movie    #theatre    #cinema    #entertainment    #stressed    #not    #stress    #no    #wikipedia    #yahoo    

Wednesday, 27 April 2011

Customers at Bookstores

There are two very common comments I get most days at Bookstore Z. Many would find it surprising or find themselves guilty of the very same comments. Now the context of the comment matters most. At Bookstore Z, our jobs are all about engaging customers and helping them find what they need as soon as possible, especially nearing the Christmas season when impulse buys are more likely.

My favourite comment, upon approaching a customer is “I am looking for a book”, followed by silence. Either they think I can read their minds or they seem to believe I have no faith in their words. Often this comment is followed by a quick muttering of the name of, usually, some obscure book and/or author. This is another thing I have noticed about customers of a bookstore. They assume that all employees of Bookstore Z know every single book ever written. When we use our highly accurate computer system to access what books we have in stock, customers suddenly become disgruntled, like they cannot believe I haven’t heard of Sir Obscure-a-lot and, I’m sure, some under-rated book.

The worst, however, are the customers that think describing the cover of a book helps without a title or author. Or maybe they’ll describe what the book is about, which only helps occassionally. 

“Excuse me, X, I am looking for a book that is a collection of short stories. The first time I saw it was in passing. I think it had a red cover. I was just wondering if you had it. I don’t know the author or the title or anything. I was just hoping you could jog my memory.”

Clearly your memory needs a lot more than jogging.

The second most common comment I get, upon approaching customers, actually offends me a little: “No thanks, I don’t need help. Just looking, since I don’t actually read. Or I haven’t read since…school.”

Oh, puh-lease, please get your illiterate behind out of Bookstore Z. I understand window-shopping, I truly do, but what use is window-shopping in a bookstore when you don’t read? I am sure all books, with those strange and foreign scratchings on them, only confuse you further. Where do you get any information? Word of mouth? Texting? 

It must be worse. Television and movies, right?

Watching or reading the news doesn’t make it okay to abandon reading actual books whether fiction or not. It’s an offense to our human, developed ability to read and write. 

Read because you can.

#book,    #bookstore,    #store,    #chapters,    #barnes,    #noble,    #hunger,    #games,    #non-fiction,    #real,    #customers,    #books    #shop    #indigo    #canada    #coles    #and    #borders    #teen    #fiction    #romance    #mystery    #documentary    #life    #work    #shift