I Can and Do Read, Thank You

[AnaKhouri]

She doesn't really qualify as sucky, I guess, just rude.

I was working the kids' register, which is unusual. This woman comes up with a baby in the stroller and says, "Do you think Harry (Potter) will die in the last book?"

Now, I read the first 5 HP books with waning interest, and after the 5th one I completely lost interest. I haven't read the 6th one. When I try to explain this people they usually start in on the "But the next one is better and it's soooo good you should get back into it etc, etc."

That's fine if you love HP, but I have stacks of books lying around that I haven't yet read, that I want to read more than HP 6 & 7. Someday I may feel like finishing the series, and I will do it then.

But to avoid all the fuss, I usually just tell people I haven't read them. Which is what I told this woman.

Her mouth literally dropped open. It was as if I had told her I sacrifice babies to the Great Lord Satan.

Then she says, in a very snarky tone, "Oh, I thought you had to READ if you worked here." (I work in a bookstore)

I replied, "I am the adult Fiction Manager. I read a lot, but I don't read many children's books."

She walked off in a huff. I know I shouldn't have said anything, but she pissed me off.

[Marxfan]

Then she says, in a very snarky tone, "Oh, I thought you had to READ if you worked here." (I work in a bookstore)

If I didn't have information for customers, they'd say things like that to you. Don't sweat it... I'm sure she's one of those dumbass soccer moms who only read HP or any book Oprah tells them to read.

By the way, I think she was sucky, and you handled the situation just fine.

[HappyCthulhu]

You could have told her that Harry Potter is Satan and she was going to Hell for reading it.

[GingerBiscuit]

Oh... my...
No words.

I wouldn'y expect an employee to know every single book series.
It's like expecting me to know what ever food we sell tastes like.

[BookstoreEscapee]

So here is the sum of what we've learned from the Harry Potter SCs:

If you do read them you're going to hell and if you don't read them you're an illiterate moron...!

[Acolyte]

They must be related to the people who come into EB and get pissy when I tell them I haven't played a certain game. Look, there's over a thousand different titles in the store. I barely have time to play WoW, and that's the only game I'm playing ATM. Do you honestly expect me to have a formulated opinion on every game in the store?

[BookstoreEscapee]

Do you honestly expect me to have a formulated opinion on every game in the store?

Well, that's a silly question! Of course they do!

[Acolyte]

And that's why I have such excellently formulated bullshitting skills. I managed to give someone a detailed and succinct review of F.E.A.R. for the PS3, despite having never played the game, or even knowing anything beyond the content of a skimpy preview in PC Gamer a year or so back.

[Bright_Star]

I have never read any of the Harry Potter books. I don't see what all the fuss is about.

[Rappunzill]

People who look down their noses at people they don't even know...should lose their noses! The nerve of that woman is amazing.

I have never read any of the Harry Potter books. I don't see what all the fuss is about.

Well, as a Potter fan myself, I think I can say....I dunno. I mean, they're really good books, yes. The fuss seems to be because it's trendy to be a Harry Potter fan. However, I get excited because ZOMG a book is trendy!!! This bodes well for our species.

[JustADude]

The fuss seems to be because it's trendy to be a Harry Potter fan.

And I'd get to say "I liked them before they were trendy", except I don't give a crap about the books being popular.

I picked up a copy when Sorcerer's Stone was sitting on the New Release shelf and decided to give it a read, and just keep picking the new ones up because I want to see where the whole thing ends up.

[Dark Psion]

Then she says, in a very snarky tone, "Oh, I thought you had to READ if you worked here." (I work in a bookstore)

Hmmm, that line has so many possibilites.

Adult Bookstore

Pharmacy (Try the red ones....)

Liquor Store

[BookstoreEscapee]

I picked up a copy when Sorcerer's Stone was sitting on the New Release shelf and decided to give it a read, and just keep picking the new ones up because I want to see where the whole thing ends up.

I feel the same way...I didn't start reading them until the hoopla for the 3rd one started up, just to see what all the fuss was about. So I read the first 2 before the 3rd came out, and I actually borrowed the 3rd from my store the week before it came out (shh, don't tell...my manager didn't think about that whole strict-on-sale angle...but then they didn't do the whole "don't deliver it until the very last second" thing they've done with the last few...she realized after I took it she shouldn't have let me sign it out and said I had to bring it back ... good thing I read fast...). But I'm not all fanatic about it. I'm working the HP party at Store2 next week but I don't plan on dressing up or anything. I don't want to run any of the events or play a character or anything like that. I only volunteered because some of my friends will be there, and it's the last one, so what the hell.

Some of the Potterheads at Store2 run a HP discussion group for adults. I've sat in on a few of them but frankly I wasn't that interested in the discussion, and I couldn't even remember half of the little details they were throwing around. One night I was getting so bored I opened my phone, pretended to read a text message and then slipped away pretending to dial...and went and got a drink at the cafe and then shopped a bit!

Oh, and just to brag for the people who care...I work for the Distribution Center and the book is there...the pallets have their own security guard...only certain people are allowed in that area (I think they put some mark on their ID badges or something) and they even gave the IT guys a hard time when they went to replace a printer the other day. I haven't actually seen it though because I don't have any reason to hike all the way over there from my office at the other end of the building. But we might get a copy to do a 3D image for the website!

[Seshat]

I have never read any of the Harry Potter books. I don't see what all the fuss is about.

The early ones are a readable and light interpretation of the Hero's Journey. The hero is likeable and his motives are clear to most readers. The villian is clear-cut and comprehensible, yet manages to put a twist to the plot that in retrospect makes most readers go 'oh, I should have seen that!'.

The four Houses are a clever trick - people like to categorise. And she's managed to be consistent in her worldcrafting.

In other words: it's good commercial fiction.

(Why yes, I did start reading them in an attempt to analyse what makes them popular. And yes, I've considered writing commercial fiction.)

For my own children's-fiction reading, I prefer Diana Wynne Jones or Garth Nix.

[Hon'ya-chan]

Do you honestly expect me to have a formulated opinion on every game in the store?

Do what I do...generalize subjects as a whole.

"No, I think most romance novels on the market are utter crap and completely unrealistic. Howabout Penthouse Letters?"

"Sorry, but unless it was on PBS, I don't dig mysteries. David Suchet as Piorot I can love. He has this lovely charm...."