Just Another Beautiful Day In The Book Mines.
- public restroom facility
- “quiet place” to take that phone call on your mobile
[It was quiet, before you showed up] - …or a handy ‘public’ phone for when your battery dies
[…sure the battery on your phone just died. What’s that? Why, I guess you can’t make long distance calls on this phone; I’m as surprised as you are]
- a place to ask for directions
- …or restaurant recommendations
- …or tourist info
- …or a nearby bakery “so I can send a birthday cake to my son who happens to live in your city. Of course you’re going to know exactly the right store to recommend, and you’ll be able to give me their phone number; I mean, you work at a bookstore.” Duh, right?
- reading room
- study hall
- reference library
- …and an all-purpose reference and information line: for the spelling of difficult words (so I can use them in a search on the internet, natch) – or to convert celsius to fahrenheit – or to explain the difference between Siam and Thailand, or the name of that Korean fermented cabbage (what was that called again?), or to give a brief rundown of the late surviving eastern rump of the Roman Empire based in Constantinople (and why is it called the Byzantine Empire, anyway?), or the difference between a Philharmonic and a Symphony Orchestra, or to list composers and intial debut dates for the ten most popular Operas of the Standard Repertoire — “I mean, I can’t be bothered to look this stuff up on the internet, and you’re a bookstore. Who else am I supposed to call?”
- an incubator from which to launch your own small business
- …and do all the research to incorporate
- …and business forms
- …and internet marketing
- …courting angel investors
- …and grant writing for your non-profit sideline
- …and all that for free
- “Say, where’s your copy machine?”
[we don’t have one, and I’d explain why but it’d just confuse you and the resulting conversation will give me a headache]
- meet-up
- hang out
- time killer
- date spot
- blind date spot
- awkward break-up spot
- homeless shelter
- … and public restroom. Don’t forget the all important public restroom. Why, one can even take a resonable sponge bath in the sink…
- a place where one can take off one’s shoes and relax
- convenient and apparently ‘safe’ spot to take a nap
- and a free storage locker for the luggage you just happened to ‘forget’ & left there overnight.
- coffee shop
- lunch counter
- picnic spot. “I mean, sure it’s fine if I bring in my own food, right? The sandwich shop is right next door, and the fried chicken place just down the street. You let people eat food in here everyday.”
sure, for the food we sell
##
There are 1001 uses for a bookstore.
Hey, you know what? We also sell books.
##
This is a bit of a filler post; I’m still very much engaged in turning the store upside down in order to set all the holiday promos my corporate overlords would like us to have done by November 2nd — while continuing to conserve every last minute of payroll and doing at least three other things simultaneously.
And all customer questions, comments, concerns, polite objections, and bookstore/bookseller expectations indicated above are real — garnered from a decade of experience and mostly off the top of my head.
I’ll try to flesh this out into full essay on Bookstores: What Are They Good For? [insert reference here] when I have more time.
But for now, just pity me. Bookselling is harsh and it’s been a lot rougher this year than any I’ve worked yet.
