Sending Books...to Jail

Sometimes people come into the bookstore and want to send books to jails or prisons. There are strict rules about how books can be sent, as well as which ones can be sent. People can't select books in the store and have us send those exact books to a correctional facility. We have to order them from the warehouse to be sent. Most facilities won't let prisoners accept hardcover books, and anything of questionable content (porn, dealing with weapons or drugs) are not allowed. Books usually have to be sent by postal service, because often facilities won't sign for packages from UPS, so the inmate never receives the package intended for them.

Two women came up to the information desk. One looked to be about in her 60's, graying shoulder length hair, a worn pale pink fleece jacket and jeans. The other woman was younger, fairly tall, about 5'10", long hair dyed burgundy, dark red lipstick with almost black lip liner. She had a black cap on with skulls on it. They had three books with them, The Lost Symbol, Michael Crichton's Pirate Latitudes, and John Grisham's newest The Confession, which is only in hardcover.

        

"We'd like to have these sent to a facility. To my husband who's there," the older woman said quietly. She seemed kind of out of it. "We've done it before," she said. "All the information should already be in there," she pointed to the computer.

"Sure," I said. When I checked, I found out that her information is in there, not her husband's. I told her that the computer saved some of her information, but not the mailing information about the prisoner. "I'll have to get the information about where it's going and who will be receiving it."

"I thought that was already in there. We've done this before." She sighed.

"Sorry about that, the computer saves your information, but not the sending information. I need the SID number (prisoner identification number), do you have that?"

They started to recite it from memory, the older woman said to the younger one, "I don't remember the rest of it, do you have it?" She sighed, her eyes kind of unfocused. The younger one dug in her purse and got the information. I got it entered into the computer.

"My understanding is that they won't accept hardcovers, and the Grisham book is only in hardcover," I said.

"We've done it before," they said. "He really wants to read this."

"Okay, that's fine, I just want to let you know that we've heard that some facilities don't accept hardcovers."

"We've done it before. We just want to send these." I printed the order and the older woman confirmed that the mailing information was correct. They took the printed order to go pay for it.

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...And More Customers

There's an elderly Asian gentleman that comes in few times a week to buy a New York Times and a Wall Street Journal. He's very soft-spoken, always gets the same thing. One day a very tall, not Asian man came in with a piece of paper. He asked for the New York Times and a Wall Street Journal. I told him I thought I knew who they were for. He said yes, he was buying them for a friend who was in the hospital. The not Asian man came in for several weeks, buying the newspapers for his friend. I told him to tell him that we missed him and that we hope he's doing better. A few days later the Asian gentleman came in, moving slowly, looking a little pale, but up and around. I told him how good it was to see him and hoped he was doing better. He smiled and seemed pleased to be remembered.

Since then sometimes it's been the Asian gentleman and sometimes the not Asian gentleman who buy the newspapers. This week it was the Asian gentleman. I hope he's getting better.

A middle-aged couple came in and asked for the death and grieving section. As we walked over to the section, they said they needed something about losing a child. I pointed out a few titles dealing specifically with the loss of a child. They said, "But our son wasn't a kid, he was 22." I said that he's still their child, and many of the books talk about losing one's child, and that the age of the child didn't necessarily matter. "He was killed in Iraq.", they said. "He was our only son." "I'm so sorry.", I said. They were crying. I was crying. I pointed out a few more titles, said I was sorry again and walked away. Their picture was on the front page of the paper the next day, sitting at their son's funeral.

A girl about 10 years old and her dad came up to the register. One of the books they were purchasing was a book about Stephanie Meyer's Twilight series. The girl said, "That's for my friend. She has a brain tumor. She loves Twilight." I told her I thought it was nice of her to be getting her a book she knows she'll enjoy. "She named her tumor. She named it Fred. This is the second time the tumor has come back. She's in the hospital. She really likes Twilight. This'll be great." I told her I liked that she named her tumor. And that I hope she enjoys the book. "She WILL!"

A woman was looking for a baby book. She was looking for a particular baby book (that we didn't have). As another option, I told her about what another customer had done for Mother's Day. The other customer's sister was having a baby girl, so she bought 5 pink blank journals for herself and her mother and other relatives to write in about this new baby girl. I thought it was a marvelous idea. The customer yesterday thought so too, "IF people would write in it." She said her family members wouldn't write in it. She has four grandchildren and none of them have baby books. This new baby that's coming is the first one for this daughter. "She WILL keep a baby book. She's just one of those who think keeping traditions going is a good thing, so she will do it." She talked about how she kept baby books for all of her kids. Some of her kids ask her about their kids, "when did he start walking?", they'll ask her. "That's why you write it down", she says to them. She's thrilled that this daughter will be keeping a baby book, and she didn't seem to mind that we didn't have the one she wanted.

A young man wearing a leather jacket and carrying a motorcycle helmet was looking for a book for his mother. She likes thrillers, has read Michael Crichton and liked him. We chatted for a while about what she's read, how Michael Crichton kind of has his own niche, with almost biological thrillers. He then asked if I liked Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett. "I loved it.", I said. "So did I." I told him that there is a sequel to it (World Without End); he hadn't known about a sequel. I told him I didn't like it, as it was set 100 years after Pillars of the Earth and all the people I liked in the first one died. I just couldn't get into it. He ended up taking Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol, which I liked and sounded to him like something his mom would enjoy.

Our store is doing a book drive for children in foster care. A young-ish man with long hair and a beard came up. He was purchasing two books of gay erotica. I told him that we're doing a book drive for kids in foster care, and asked if he'd like to donate a book. "Oh, wow, that's cool. I was a foster child." He bought Holes by Louis Sachar for the book drive. "This was my favorite book when I was a kid."