And the other store, too...

I went to that other store last night, the one I've been boycotting for awhile, just to see if I could stand to shop there. The answer is still no.

Apart from the too-bright lights and the cloying Christian music,* the desperate plastering of ads for their discount card on every shelf and the obvious discontent of the staff were not terribly useful in convincing me to shop here. I should become a mystery shopper, huh?

Seriously, though, I have worked in failing bookstores, and this one has all the hallmarks, and because I am a vulture I'll keep watching for sales when and if the store is forced to close. I don't know if it's a problem with the whole chain or with this particular store, although this store has never been terribly busy and doesn't, I think, market or position itself well locally. It has a much better horror selection than its competitor, which quite nearly induced me to spend money. The reason I didn't was because after browsing for a half hour, I'd had enough of the annoying employees.

Example 1: Middle-aged man, clearly demoralized, being comforted by friends? coworkers? who tell him, "You just have to think about it as a temporary job. You're not going to be here forever. That's the only way you can stand it." Fine, I understand this isn't where you wanted to be at this stage, but you don't need to have this conversation with customers around, right? He says something about how he really hates it but he totally sees himself still being there in 20 years. Oy.

Example 2: Middle-aged woman talking to younger woman, both of them Far-Side social reject types. (Kind of me, I know.) "I hate it when people criticize my husband because I have to have this job. He is a good provider! It's not his fault that I have to work right now! But because he is such a good provider, I hand over my entire paycheck to him. It goes in his account and I don't even have access to withdraw that money. Some people have a problem with that, but he is a good provider! He handles money well!"

I interrupt this diatribe to ask about the 3-for-2 sale advertised on the door, because I've walked through the entire store and seen evidence (promo stickers) only on a few books in the art history section. Yeah, they are setting out the sales books now. It's only on art history and Christian fiction. I know lots of my relatives like Christian fiction, but I...don't. Mostly. That's really a subject for a whole 'nother entry. So my face falls. They tell me, trying to be nice but clearly also looking down their noses, that the sale has been going on for three months and it has featured different books at different times. So they're sorry, but it's really mainly Christian fiction now.

I meander around for a little longer, holding my horror paperbacks, listening to the madwoman who thinks it is acceptable that she doesn't have access to her own paycheck. Do I want to spend part of mine here? My mind is made up for me by a group of loud, fat, obnoxious girls giggling over a guy who isn't all that funny, who is reading aloud blurbs on new hardcovers and making fun of them. I do that too, and I don't mind other people doing it, but I really was over the annoying and pathetic people in this store. So I left my little stack of books on the floor and walked out.


*Christian music is fine in its place, but this is the kind I couldn't stand even when I believed I had a moral obligation to listen to Christian music. I don't need music in a bookstore, but if you're going to have it, why not play some soothing classical guitar or piano, something quiet and unobtrusive that isn't likely to annoy anyone?