I'm at one of the few remaining used book stores in town (or the world, for that matter). One problem we have is people calling and asking if we will buy their books. I ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS tell them that we can't make a buying decision without having the books in our hands.
In spite of this people still insist on telling me what they have, and it is always in "excellent" or "mint" condition. The later term is especially annoying because books aren't minted. It's almost as bad as when they say that they are "vintage".
Enough digression. Yesterday, a woman calls telling me that she has a bunch of Large Print books. Great, I ask the subject. She tells me "all kinds". This tells me that she is alliterate (if not illiterate). I respond by asking if they are novels. She says yes, but some of them are non-fiction. At this point I reach for that thing on the wall that they had in the evil universe Star Trek that kills people with the push of a button. Sadly the boss has yet to install one. For fucks sake lady, A novel is fiction by definition.
After stating again that I can't promise anything I tell her that I might be interested in the non-romance large print books and some of the others depending on title and condition.
Today her sister and some guy come in. What's in the boxes? Romance novels and beat to hell junk. I find one book that I can pay U$2.00 for.
Guy gets pissy, grabs it, throws it in one of the boxes, grabs the boxes and storms out, mumbling something.
I sarcastically shout to his back as he leaves "I guess using th judgement I've developed over 14 years in the business makes me a dick.".
Why do people think misrepresenting books on the phone is a good idea?
Jeez, I'm done venting for a while.
In spite of this people still insist on telling me what they have, and it is always in "excellent" or "mint" condition. The later term is especially annoying because books aren't minted. It's almost as bad as when they say that they are "vintage".
Enough digression. Yesterday, a woman calls telling me that she has a bunch of Large Print books. Great, I ask the subject. She tells me "all kinds". This tells me that she is alliterate (if not illiterate). I respond by asking if they are novels. She says yes, but some of them are non-fiction. At this point I reach for that thing on the wall that they had in the evil universe Star Trek that kills people with the push of a button. Sadly the boss has yet to install one. For fucks sake lady, A novel is fiction by definition.
After stating again that I can't promise anything I tell her that I might be interested in the non-romance large print books and some of the others depending on title and condition.
Today her sister and some guy come in. What's in the boxes? Romance novels and beat to hell junk. I find one book that I can pay U$2.00 for.
Guy gets pissy, grabs it, throws it in one of the boxes, grabs the boxes and storms out, mumbling something.
I sarcastically shout to his back as he leaves "I guess using th judgement I've developed over 14 years in the business makes me a dick.".
Why do people think misrepresenting books on the phone is a good idea?
Jeez, I'm done venting for a while.
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