Purchases and Requests...

In an hour, customers asked about...

Three Questions by Muth (children's, hardcover)

Anything on gnomes (there is a large hardcover book on gnomes, has been out since the 70's or 80's, plus a couple of gnome mini-kits. They bought the book and one of the mini-kits. They'd already purchased the other one.)

"Do you know where there's a Safeway near here?"

Language of Life: Life, DNA and the Revolution in Personalized Medicine by Francis Collins (featured on a table)

dog food cookbooks (pets, bargain, there are several)

Big Leap: Conquer Your Fears by Gay Hendrix (self-improvement)

Yo Yeow Ma, Wisdom of Cats (bargain)

Supervision Concepts and Skill Building by Certo (didn't have, textbook)

Wizard of Oz (many versions throughout the store)

I Am America, and So Can You! by Stephen Colbert (humor)

anything on Japanese or Chinese tattoo (several places in the store, bargain, cultural studies, art, photo essay)

books on yoga (health and fitness, yoga)

Mastering Unreal Technology, Volume 1 (web/game design)

"Any books, preferably a mystery or fiction, where the protagonist is a personal trainer. Or an athlete. It's a present for my personal trainer and I thought it would be fun to give her a book that has a personal trainer as the protagonist." (I don't know, I couldn't think of one off the top of my head. Another bookseller did some more research.)

"Do you have Neurotic Styles, it's by Shapiro, published in 1965? You should carry it, it's a classic, therapists everywhere use this all the time." (No, don't have it, and neither I, nor Therapist, have ever heard of it)

A family came up to the register. One spinner display near the registers has little mini-kits, among them a desktop aquarium, a 3 inch high Snoopy, a Stewie from Family Guy doll, all in small boxes. One of the children in the family, a girl about three years old grabbed one of the boxes and told her dad, "I want this one!". He held it up for me to see. A purple box, with a drawing of a couple kissing on the front and the title...Great Sex: Lovemaking Techniques to Blow Your Partner's Mind.

Kind of a college-jock looking guy, short haircut, polo shirt, shorts that sagged a little, tan, pretty buff, bought The Four Agreements and a biography of Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky. The purchase just seemed a little out of character, but then again, one shouldn't judge a book...