As readers we should be on our best behavior when entering the bookstore. It can be a very confusing, thoroughly frustrating experience and so I’ve come up with a list for you that you will help you navigate the aisle and deal with sales clerks like an expert!
1. Don’t argue with the sales clerk when she/he says that the book isn’t due out for another month even though your online friends and the store across the street has the book in stock. Just politely leave and buy the book where you last saw it.
2. Do try to resist the urge to move books around and correct the arrangement of books that are incorrectly shelved. You are not an employee there. If you see a copy of Gail Dayton’s The Compass Rose shelved in romance instead of the SF/F shelf — just leave it there. They’ll move it eventually. This maybe their way of tricking romance readers into buying romantic fantasy. [shrug]
3. Never ever face the covers of books face forward on the shelf! Let them sit there with their spine out. The sales clerk probably doesn’t want anybody finding them anyway.
4. Do go to the counter with confidence with your purchases and initiate small talk. Don’t feel intimidated when the sales clerk looks at the covers of your books with half-nekked people, groping each other on them, staring just a little longer than your comfortable with. Just smile and say your buying them for a friend.
5. And whatever you do, resist and desist alphabetizing. It smacks of common sense. Just turn around and leave Gellis in the P’s.
Also there’s one last thing I must say before I close this topic and that is.….
I saved 15% on my car insurance! YES!
Have a sense of humor! I just spent four hours at jury duty and didn’t get picked.
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
Yes, if all you had to spend on Jury duty was four hours, I want to move to Houston.
Greatest city in America *big smile*
Yes, if all you had to spend on Jury duty was four hours, I want to move to Houston. I had to waste a whole day and barely escaped getting seated during my last stint of public duty service.
What really ticked me off were all these hispanics (no, I’m not starting into an anti-immigration rant) who showed up, mumbled “No inglese.” and got off scot free.
And Renee, I’m with you sweetie. I. Just. Can’t. Resist. Must alphabetize. No choice. Compulsion.
ReneeW — resist and desist. You have to fight that urge.
I can’t resist reshelving and alphabetizing whether it’s a UBS, library, or regular bookstore. I worked as a volunteer at my kids’ school library and now I feel a compulsion to alphabetize everything!
Only four hours?! I got to spend all day when I went and I still didn’t get picked. You got off LUCKY.
Oh, kewl. I don’t have a Borders near my house
Yes, I brought my botte of juice and my book and I slept too.
Did you bring your book and bottle of water like instructed? As for bookstores, I have long given up on them knowing as much as I do. I always think it is humorous when I hand sell books to the bookseller rather than vice versa. A friend of my is a romance buyer at a bookstore and she is always handing out good suggestions to the readers. I wish I had a bookstore employee like that around me.
One thing that I have found and really, really like is . You can search the inventory of the books online at your preferred Borders and then you can “request” them and they’ll be behind the counter ready for your purchase. I think that is pretty neat. Of course, I am generally easy to impress.
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