There is only one of Me, and tonight, he needs some sleep.
I had the idea on Wednesday — I finished up the last set on Friday (and yes I know it’s not really finished as I only posted the core charts without any of the secondary reports)
I said (but did not promise) that I’d have a new chart for you on Monday, “if it kills me”
It Killed Me.
Ow.
Oh, Wow, this is a big chunk to chew off and process.
The Ghost of Matt (who was killed) will try to post RocketBomber’s first Comics 500 on Monday, but not only does he have to go in for a 7am manager’s meeting, he’s the Lucky manager this week who has to turn around and come back to close the store. I know all of our customers and customer-like-objects (I’m looking at you, Manga Cows) appreciate that the Bookstore is open 14 hours a day, but I wonder if you’ve ever thought of what that means to the fine folks who work there.
Strike that. I know the thought has never crossed your mind. Especially when you just leave your books and magazines on whatever available surface on the way out the door…
Hell, this deserves it’s very own rant but I’m on a roll and this will only take an extra minute:
You walk into my store. You ask Questions. You are looking for someone who is not only knowledgeable about the Product but who is conversant with at least two computer systems, who can game a search with minimal information (because you never have but the barest scraps of information), who is studied in history, philosophy, literature, classics, and current events; who can spell mis-pronounced titles in English, French, Italian, Spanish, German, Latin, or even Japanese; who watches TV and listens to radio compulsively and knows off the top of his or her head exactly the book you saw/heard on whatever programme five weeks ago even though now the only cogent detail you can come up with is the colour of the cover (which you have misremembered so even that detail is wrong)
…and you want it all at 10:55, five minutes before we close.
Or, alternately: You want it all, but you also expect this same person (intelligent, well-spoken and well-read, with multiple degrees and an outgoing personality) to also bus your table, clean up your messes and spilled coffee, to throw out your used tissues, and to thank you for the opportunity. After thirty minutes with a knowledgeable bookseller you ask for a print-out so you can go order it online.
And after all this, you ask me if we have a photocopier
[libraries are what they are, and for a reason, and you shouldn’t treat a bookstore like a library even if so many many details seem the same. I. Want. To. Slap. You…]
You want to know why your bookstore is going out of business? Look in the mirror.
It’s Your Fault.
##
A late posting of the charts is my fault, but I’ve been dealing with customers [sic] [op cit.] all week and we’ve had to cut payroll with the decrease in sales this year and I’m running full-out just to keep up.
You people are draining me.
—double down, try again: I hope beyond hope that I can get something up tomorrow noonish.
