Re-Tales: You Don't Read?

Many of the Re-Tales stories I intend to tell revolve around the idea of the customer not only being wrong, but being fairly ignorant. It used to be that bookstores and libraries employed those who were the most knowledgeable and passionate about books. Libraries might still be the exception, but with the onset of computers, the cutting of costs and the shrinking of profit margins, bookstores have fairly well dumbed it down.

I was working in one of the many bookstores from my past, one that definitely employed some of the creme de la creme of passionate book people. A dowdy woman came in wearing a large straw hat, oversized sunglasses, too much perfume, and overall coated with attitude. (I should say that this was in an airport bookstore and she was traveling, I believe, to Hawaii. But, who knows.) She asked the young lady I was working with whether we had a copy of "The Bridges of Madison County." There are two things you need to know about before I end this story. For one, this novel, one of the most popular books of 1992, was already somewhat passé by the time this event occurred. The second thing you need to know is that the young lady who was assisting the dowdy woman was a grad student at UCLA. She was incredibly intelligent, well read and outspoken.

OK. So, now that you know those things, here's the rest. The young lady bookseller found the title, placed it in the customer's hand and then asked if there was anything else the woman needed. The woman then proceeded to ask, "What did you think of this book?" As politely as possible, the young lady responded, "I'm sorry, I haven't read that book." The dowdy replied with bile in her voice, "What? You work in a bookstore and you don't read?" The young lady kept her composure, looked down at the woman (the young lady was also intimidatingly tall, like a woman's basketball star) and retorted, "Yes ma'am, I read. I just don't crap like that."

It was priceless, one of those moments you wish you could have been a part of. I was there, but I sure wish I had said it.