Bookstore = We Sell (and Know!!) Everything

[Hon'ya-chan]

Pounding my head again into the counter as some of the requests for items that aren't normally associated with a Bookstore has gotten progressively weirder.

Of some of the items i've been asked for have been:

* Erasers
* Watercolor Sets
* DVD's starring Belladonna and Nautica Thorn (yes, I Wiki'd, I wish I hadn't on one of them.)
* Recycling Bags (?)
* Directions to the nearest (Insert Cusine Type) restaurant. I think the weirdest has to be to a "Raw Vegan Fusion Restaurant."
* Road Closure Information (uh, call the Cops lady. They should have a Non-Emergency line)

[jerkface11]

The though a book store would have porn?

[Mnemjian]

SERIOUSLY! People ask for crazy stuff at our bookstore too. It's confusing to me because... well, I don't walk into a flower shop and ask for power tools.

1. Greeting cards/stationary
2. Day planners
3. Movies (???)
4. Magazines & newspapers (I kind of get this one, but it still says "book store" on the sign..)
5. Music CD's
6. Rolls of wrapping paper/gift bags

The worst is when you say that you don't have them and then they ask where they can get them. Employee =/= phone book.

[otakuneko]

@Mnemjian: They're spoilt on Barnes & Noble. I do believe they have all of those things, plus overpriced coffee.

[Mnemjian]

@Mnemjian: They're spoilt on Barnes & Noble. I do believe they have all of those things, plus overpriced coffee.

you're right! I didn't really think about that actually. It's still a little strange because we're a little used bookstore. I could see asking for those things at a new bookstore.

[Mark Healey]

SERIOUSLY! People ask for crazy stuff at our bookstore too. It's confusing to me because... well, I don't walk into a flower shop and ask for power tools.

1. Greeting cards/stationary
2. Day planners
3. Movies (???)
4. Magazines & newspapers (I kind of get this one, but it still says "book store" on the sign..)
5. Music CD's
6. Rolls of wrapping paper/gift bags

You forgot:

7. Calendars
8. A copier
9. TEXTBOOKS!!!!!. Real bookstores don't carry textbooks....AAAHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[hinakiba777]

Most of the normal bookstores here have stationary, pens, and calendars.

However, magazines, gift wrap, etc do not exist outside of Indigo.

[Pezzle]

You forgot:

9. TEXTBOOKS!!!!!. Real bookstores don't carry textbooks....AAAHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Why not? :\ I kind of like being able to actually go to a store and have them order me a textbook.

[Mark Healey]

Why not? :\ I kind of like being able to actually go to a store and have them order me a textbook.

Because the only people who want the textbook are people who need it for a specific class. The campus bookstore is told how many people are taking the class for a given quarter/semester and knows how many to order. We can't carry any in the hopes that some random student will call us looking for it.

[jerkface11]

All of the book stores around here (excluding the used ones) have calendars and at least some stationary. It's horribly overpriced though. They do have good selections of magazines and newspapers though but again not at the used stores. Although one of the used stores does have a decent section of back issues of certain magazines.

[BookstoreEscapee]

SERIOUSLY! People ask for crazy stuff at our bookstore too. It's confusing to me because... well, I don't walk into a flower shop and ask for power tools.

1. Greeting cards/stationary
2. Day planners
3. Movies (???)
4. Magazines & newspapers (I kind of get this one, but it still says "book store" on the sign..)
5. Music CD's
6. Rolls of wrapping paper/gift bags

The worst is when you say that you don't have them and then they ask where they can get them. Employee =/= phone book.

Well, in their defense (sorry) Barnes & Noble does carry all of these things.** And then some. (Seriously, I walk through the warehouse sometimes and think, "We do still sell books, right?")


**Not all stores have a music department, though the ones that don't often still get some new music for special displays. Also, not all stores carry newspapers.

[Thuringwethyl]

Why not? :\ I kind of like being able to actually go to a store and have them order me a textbook.

I hate textbooks. I had one store manager who had no spine and ordered them for people without the pre-pay option. The amount of wretched students who would either take the book and return it a week later (after doing a project), forget about it, or rip out pages were astounding. Oh, and we couldn't return them to the publisher. After she left the new store manager decreed that our textbooks are not allowed in the store, period. If someone orders them from our store they are informed that they are pre-paid, ship-to-home only, and non-returnable. Wonder upon wonders, after this policy went into effect our store shrink took an immediate nose-dive.

[daisychain]

When I worked in a bookstore not only would we get queries about those, but also about shipping prices, weights, directions and the inventory and opening times of every store (book related or not) in near vicinity.

[Hon'ya-chan]

When I worked in a bookstore not only would we get queries about those, but also about shipping prices, weights, directions and the inventory and opening times of every store (book related or not) in near vicinity.

It's even worse when I have to know the inventory of our competitors.

The kicker was one customer who asked if I knew if the other Christian Book Stores carried the NIVI and how much they were!!