Just a Little Nugget from our Cafe' (No, not our Starbucks)

"This cappucino tastes like coffee."

Where's your mom?

Since when is it acceptable for children to make huge messes in a place of business. I honestly want to know the exact moment that retailers lost their backbone. Was it the McDonald's coffee lady? (What, my coffee's hot and could burn my crotch?!) I really am curious. Will it ever go back the other way? Will we be able to state what should be obvious and tell someone their behavior is inappropriate because what they're doing can more accurately be called vandalism or theft? If I went into a clothing store like, the Gap, I wouldn't put on some clothes and wear them around the store all day then take them off, leave them on the floor and let others walk all over them. That would be ridiculous. But replace "put on" with "read", "clothes" with "books", "wear" with "spread", and "take them off" with "not put them away" and you have exactly what happens every single day. UGH!

Why do we allow people to abuse our store and why aren't I allowed to tell someone they are damaging that book past the point of it being saleable without the fear of a higher-up coming down on me?
It isn't okay to break the spine of a book you haven't purchased.
It isn't okay to do the crossword in the NYTimes without buying the paper.
It isn't okay to slobber on a stuffed animal you have no intention of buying.
It isn't okay to take all the stickers out of a book and stick them on all the pages of the book.
It isn't okay to copy all the information on Hawaii, LSAT, how to bake bread, etc. out of the book and leave it strewn all over. Libraries are better equipped for that and you already pay for them through your taxes, so use them.
IT ISN'T OKAY TO LET YOUR KIDS DO ANY OF THE ABOVE, EITHER.
YOU HAD THEM, YOU NEED TO WATCH THEM!
(and I charge $12 an hour to babysit, so unless you wanna chip in on my hourly wage, I am not gonna watch your kid while you go shopping in the mall - yes, people do this. Are you one of them?)

My tears make me strong...

I cried a little at work yesterday when I saw the huge mess on the stage...not on the table...on the floor, on the benches, on the carpet...everywhere but the table.

How it is possible to tear the entire cover off a Star Wars pop-up book?! Could I do it? Even if I physically could, morally I would die. Were there any parents around?! How about a fellow bookseller *ahem* worthless older lady that works every Sunday when we're really busy and stands at the customer service desk reading the new People instead of doing her job *ahem* taking the time to straighten kids and pick up reshelves...let alone helping any customers that may be in that section.

I am totally jealous of my friend Beth who just moved to New York and works and a store in Brooklyn. She says that the leads in her store actually spend a majority of their time in their sections. AMAZING! They aren't covering the cafe and getting yelled at by snots that can't believe they don't know what to write on the friggin' cup when they order a "4 shot dry vanilla cap in a grande mug", or backing up the registers because the newly hired wretched lady is slower than molasses on a winter's day, they are doing what they do best...selling the books they love to sell. How novel...get it, novel...it's a nerdy book joke. :P

Do you work here?

No. I'm just carrying around piles of books and pushing this cart full of them while wearing a nametag answering the portable phone in my pocket and scanning books with this expensive computer thing. Isn't that what you do at stores you don't work at?!