Bookstore Employees?

[volpe-rossa]

Has anyone ever worked in a bookstore? What were your favorite things about it, and your least favorite?

Mine go as follows...

:Favorite:

- First dibs on new stock
- "Checking out" books (1 week at a time, unless stock was limited and there was a customer request)
- Watching kids buy books


:Least Favorite:

- Parents letting wild children destroy the sections
- Religious folks terrorizing us for having a New Age area


:Things that made me weep inside:

- "What's Oprah's new book?" (....if I had a dollar for every time I heard those words uttered...)
- Having to tear the fronts of the paperbacks when we returned them to the publisher (the part with the bar code) then throwing away the entirety of the book. Because by law, we couldn't donate them.

[SidnayC]

I worked in a shop which partly sold books... I would read all the books on my break (I was like a kid in a candy store). I also really enjoyed helping people pick out good books to read. It was so fun wish I could go back.

[L_Therese]

I worked in a library through high school and college. One of my regular tasks was processing new books to go on the shelves (location stickers, a barcode, a dust jacket, etc). This allowed me dibs on any book coming in unless there was already a reserve. As a staff member, I also never needed to pay late fees and could bypass check-out limits and alter my own due dates. We also had problems with children messing up shelves. (Therefore, another regular task was "reading" shelves to make sure the books were still in order.) Most of Oprah's books had long reserve lists when she recommended them, so people unwilling to wait weeks to get the book got sent to a book store to find it there!

[Reshmi]

No I have not but I would love to work in a bookstore or a library and be surrounded by books all day long

[TrishaAnn92]

i have never had the opportunity to work in a bookstore but if I could I would definitely do it!

[cruiz1992]

I think that is a dream of mine! Aside from having to actually use my degree, I would love to be surrounded by books!

[colemaba]

I would really love to work in a bookstore. I have a feeling it would be like a child in a candy store.

[volpe-rossa]

Warning to those who want to do it, and an elbow-nudge and wink to those who have: be prepared to give a good portion of your paycheck BACK to the store each payday! XD! We got 33% off at my store for the employee discount, and boy-howdy did we use it!

[suzy1124]

nope, I've always wanted to own a bookstore................

[Sciadoe]

I have tried to get a job in a book store for years and it just hasn't worked out. Tragic, really, because the only other job I would love more would be librarian.

[suzy1124]

They'd fire me, I'd be reading all the time ( I couldn't work in a SHOE store either )