Customers 36

A mom and her grown son approached the counter. She was wearing a pink sweater and jeans, he was wearing a white t-shirt and grey shorts.

The mom put a copy of 50 SHADES OF GREY on the counter next to the register.

"Is everyone and their mother buying this?", asked the son.

"Well, not everyone and their mother," I replied. "It's pretty..." I hesitated.

"...hot and heavy?", the mother said, finishing my sentence.

"Yes." I said.

The son replied, "You're getting my wife hooked on crack, Mom," the son said, blushing.

The mom's face turned as pink as her sweater. "Yes, well," she said, and grabbed the book, handed it to her son, and said, "I just think she should read it." The son, still blushing, shook his head as they walked out.

"Have a good day," I said.

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I answered the phone at the bookstore...

"How can I help you?"

"I'm looking for a book? I can give you the author? The author's first name is Leo, the first name is Leo. The last name is, um, here, I'll spell it for you..."

My first thought was Leo Buscaglia, not being an easy name to pronounce.

"So the first name is Leo, and the last name...it's T, as in Tom, O - L - S, as in Sam, - T, as in Tom, O - Y. Tolstoy? And the title of the book is, um, Anna, um..." She trailed off.

"Karenina?", I finished for her.

"Yes! You know it? Oh, that's great!"

"Yes, I do know it. We have several different versions in the store. It's published by many different publishers and has different formats and different translators, translating it from the Russian."

"Different translators? Oh, I didn't know...I don't know which one I need. It's for my book group."

"They all tell the same story, and usually book groups aren't particular about having the same exact version. Classes for school often require a specific version."

"I don't know what they want. Oh dear. I'll have to get more information from the group. Oh, thank you for your help! I'll have to call you back!"

"Sure, good luck!"

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A customer called and asked for the book, NIGHT WEASEL. The book he wanted was NIGHT, by Eli Wiesel.

Several of us from the store where I used to work are on a weekly trivia team. Each team has a name. We are the Night Weasels.

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