The things the people working as bookstore clerks care about are eating food, wearing clothes, and living in a house. They probably like books too, but the jobs we're talking about are hardly different than the ones where you ask, "do you want a muffin with your latte?" Simply replace "muffin" with "this related title," and "latte" with...well, actually, many of these stores have an adjoining cafe now anyway.

I'm sure that at some point in your life, you worked in a crummy, low-paid service job because you had to. I'm sure you had to deal with several annoying customers who did, in fact, blame you for things you couldn't control. I worked in a clothing store for a while, and I know it happened to me a lot. I remember a particular obnoxious woman who came in one mid-August, declared that she was taking a Florida vacation, and crossly asked where we were hiding the swimsuits. I had to tell her that corporate had long since sent the order for us to ship all our unsold stock to California, where they would remain in demand, and we didn't have a single one in the whole store. I suggested a few other stores in the mall that might still have theirs (including one that was just next door), or that she might try one of our stores in Florida. She became very irate and personally abusive at this point, suggesting (among other things) that if I wasn't so lazy and stupid, I could find a swimsuit for her, and before she huffed off ("I'll just go to one of your competitors, see how you like that!"), she even threatened my job! I vented to one of my coworkers about this woman later, who commiserated with me and offered tales of her own awful customers. This was very therapeutic and helped me to resist the urge to slug the woman when she flounced in a few days later and continued to be rude...fortunately, we had what she wanted that day.

I sympathize with the frustration these employees are showing because of my own similar experiences. If you think back, I bet you'll recall some of your own trying times. It's like when someone pulls into your parking spot, marked with your name and everything, and when you ask him to move his car he flips you off and wanders away...only, as an employee, you are obligated to take this treatment silently. Correcting a customer's poor manners is not an option, but complaining about your boss to get through the aggravating parts of the day is a time-honored tradition. Repeated exposure to the same loud complaint/wild claim has particularly riled these individuals...which, I believe, is the same kind of thing that led to the creation of these boards. Not to mention the special smoking section.

Beth

Recommended reading: this page of girly* and this whole series. "Retail Hell" was actually inspired, we are led to believe, by Neil G's tenure at Border's. Although...as long as I'm talking about stupid, stressful, redundant workplace insanity, it's probably also worth it to mention My New Filing Technique Is Unstoppable**.

* rest of series leans toward raunchy
** generally bad language