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"Big, impersonal, overstocked, and full of ignorant salespeople."
I almost bit my tongue off when Meg Ryan got to the ignorant salespeople part.
I work at a chain bookstore here in Canada, as does Wembley who will hopefully chime in with her own horror stories.
In my region there was a bookstore in Welland that closed down years before my store opened. There is a small, upscale bookstore in Niagara-on-the-Lake that is doing great in the tourist trade. There was a french bookstore in St. Catharines, the city my store is situated in, and it has closed down since we opened, but, we refused to carry French titles because of its proximity, and gave its business cards out to people who made inquiries about French books. They sent us a fruitbasket last Christmas. The local remaindered store and the 4 used bookstores in the area are doing fine, according to their owners, who I visit at least once a month. The only other bookstores that have been around these parts in the last twenty years are smaller stores in the same chain, and they're still around. Bottom line, no bookstores were hurt by our presence. Of course, there wasn't much here in the first place, and I'm sure things are much more controversial in the larger cities (ie. Toronto).
Before the store I work in came around, there was nowhere within 75 km where you could purchase works by Philip K. Dick, Robert Anton Wilson, The Subgenius Foundation, Lovecraft, Geo. Herriman and a number of other writers and subjects.
The booksellers do have some say in what gets on the shelves. I ordered 20 copies of Casebook on Alternative 3, my favourite crackpot conspiracy book. It's non-returnable, so my managers almost choked, but I handsold the first 5, and soon enough we sold out by word of mouth. The same happened to Jimmy Corrigan, and at least a few other titles I've brought in. I also run the "eclectic" table, which includes books on Canadian made flying saucers, Vintage tractor guides, a guide to masturbation (recently sold out), a few anti-consumerist tomes, and, yes, a hollow earth book, a field I have a great deal of personal interest in.
An indy bookseller, with only 20,000 books on the shelf, would probably have a better than average knowledge of about 15,000 titles. After three years I have a better than average knowledge of about the same amount of our 100,000 titles, plus a fair knowledge of about 50,000 more. I know many people who applied for the same job as me with English degrees that could rattle off the entire Dickens ouvre, but couldn't name even 3 Dr. Seuss books, tell you who wrote War of the Worlds, or suggest a good baking cookbook. Ignorant salespeople? We just have a larger space to cover, and therefore, more chances for failure. And you try finding that book that was on Oprah with the blue cover, a book that deals with ponies and divorce for a six year old girl, or the best menopause book on the market.
OK, now that I've filled you full of propaganda, here comes some of the ugly.
Many customers abuse the reading of books in the stores. They'll take a good dozen books or magazines to their table, flip through a few pages, then leave the whole mess behind for the rest of us to clean up. I've seen friends do it. And people wonder why there aren't enough booksellers available. While I'm glad they leave the books for us to reshelve, no one can read that many books in one sitting. These excess books are sometimes reshelved by customers, and employees who wrongly think they know what they're doing, into some of the wildest places. I apologize on behalf of all booksellers for anyone who has searched vainly for a book that is supposed to be in the store. I realize how frustrating it is. But keep in mind that sometimes, through the warehouse shortshipping us and the computer not showing these mistakes, theft, or one of the above idiocies, we often lose a book or two. I don't know how many times I've pulled Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas out of fiction.
We employees of this chain have been told that we are regarded as the best retail salespeople in chain stores across the nation. We have also been told that we cover more square feet per person than any other retail salesperson. We are woefully shortstaffed, and they keep on tightening the belt. Head Office sets ridiculous goals that have no sense of reality for us to make our piddling bonus. They use it to spur us on, even though the only people who really benefit are the full timers. Even if you make the bonus, they set the bar higher for next time so you won't reach it again. No benefits unless you're full time. The smallest raises you can imagine (Think 5 cents to a quarter. Yearly. Canadian.), and with the worst set of criteria possible. Customer service is regarded as only 10% of your evaluation. I've been there since the store opened and I could easily make more than I currently am starting at almost any other job, retail or no. And because so many people think a bookstore job is dreamy you're pretty much expendable. When I went in for my interview they asked if I had ever been in a union. I guess they were desparate for a experienced receiver at the time.
So why stay? I can make my own hours, I'm good at what I do, my managers are very cool despite pressure from higher up, I've successfully driven a small number of out-of-touch regional managers up the wall, I get free books, can borrow more books, I know I'm not long for this place, and I live a spartan lifestyle and can work part time devoting the rest of my day to cartooning, posting extra long message board responses, and playing with my cats and dog. This is a good job for me, personally, and I can see its faults along with its merits. But I won't let it be my life. That's the difference between a job and a career. Pity those who make this a career. |
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