Advice from a Bookstore Employee.

I'm sure some of the blog will involve me bitching about work, so I should I would start off with my advice to the people on how to avoid looking stupid while shopping for books.

1. Don't ask "where is your non-fiction section?". Most bookstore employees will hesistate and then ask for more information. This hesistation is them screaming "you moron!" in their heads. In most bookstores, the non-fiction section is the majority of the store. It covers biography, history, gardening, cooking, computers, business, music, art, travel, sports, politics, new age, self help, languages, etc. GET SPECIFIC! The only nice answers to "where is the non fiction section?" are "what kind of non fiction?" or "what are you looking for?"

2. If you need a specific book...it helps to know the title and author. Knowing just one or the other can be forgivable, although it can get difficult if several books have that title, or that author has hundreds of books. But if you don't know either of them, why the fuck did you walk into the store? "Hi, I don't know the title or author, but it came out a few months ago, and it has a blue cover"...BOOM! Headshot!

3. Don't get pissed off if we don't have the obscure titles that you want. The main bookstores carry what sells the most. If no one buys them in stores, they get sent back to the warehouse to make room for something that will sell. If you need it, order it online. It's not my fault if you need it in two days but you procrastinated.
As an extension, if you are a parent looking for summer reading books for your kids, again don't get pissed off that we sold out of certain books. Especially if you waited till the last 2 weeks of summer. What? Your kid didn't tell you about it? It happens every year! You can't use that excuse. Come in the store in june when we have the books or can order them for you. (I've just realised that summer is just around the corner.

4. Stop letting your kids ruin the kid section. If you don't teach them to put stuff back where they find it, that's bad parenting. Also, don't let them open packaging and boxes. You may have to pay for it.

That'll do for now methinks.