Customers 38

A woman, maybe 60's, short greying brown hair, wearing a short sleeved beige sweater with gold yarn in it, asked for help with her Nook account. I was able to answer her question. She then asked for the Nook covers, as her Nook cover was getting pretty beat up.

"They are right over here," I said, "and all of them for your device are on sale for $15, which is great. Some of them were pretty spendy."

"Oh, that is great!", she said, "I'll have to look at them and see which one I want!"

I left her looking at the covers.

About fifteen minutes later she came up to the counter with a Nook cover in a case.

"Looks like you found one," I said.

"I did. I have breast cancer and look at the one I found!" She showed me the cover, a pink leather cover with a breast cancer ribbon design on the front. "It's perfect!", she said. "I just came from a chemo appointment and this is just the thing! And you helped me with my account!" She was smiling. "This just makes my day!"

"I'm so glad," I said, ringing up her purchase. "Take care."

"I will! Thank you so much!"

************************************

A man, 30's, dark hair and a moustache, wearing a cammo baseball cap and a light brown t-shirt, brought TRIDENT K9 WARRIORS to the counter to purchase...

     

"Oh, I've been looking at that, it really looks interesting," I said.

"I used to work with dogs in the Army," he said, "I was in bomb disposal for, let's see, ten years. I read a little bit of this," he said, pointing to the book, "and he seems to have gotten it right. I'm looking forward to reading it."

"That's good to know," I said.

"How many dogs did you get to work with?", I asked.

"Luckily, just one. Lots of other guys worked with a lot of dogs. You know, a lot of them don't make it in that kind of work." He looked sad.

"Ah. Right," I said, thinking how hard that must have been.

I wish I'd asked him the name of the dog.

Clicking on the book cover will take you to Amazon's web page for the book. Clicking on the underlined book cover may take you to Barnes and Noble's page for the book. Purchasing through these links helps support the blog. You can also send email to us: 2of3Rs(AT)gmail(DOT)com. Thanks for stopping by!

Customers 37

A woman came up to the register at the bookstore where I work. She was with her daughter. The woman, maybe early 30's, brown hair pulled back in a ponytail, wearing a brown jacket and checked scarf, told me they were there to pick up a book they had ordered. She told me the last name and I pulled it off the hold shelf and handed it to them.

"Is this your book?" I asked.

The book was MY BOOK ABOUT ME by Dr. Seuss, a book where children can use the pages to write or draw about themselves.

       

She nodded to me and then asked her daughter, "Is this the book you wanted?"

The girl, about three or four years old, with blond curly hair and wearing a pink raincoat, nodded and smiled.

The mom looked at me and explained, "She found mine, the one I'd filled in when I was little."

"Oh, that's great!" I said. Turning to the girl I asked, "Did you find out things about your mom?"

She nodded again and said, "Yes. I saw how big her hand was and her foots too."

"Was her hand in the book bigger or smaller than your hand?" I asked.

The girl looked at her mom. "I'm not sure she compared them," the mom said.

I looked at the girl again, "Now you get to do your own!" I said.

"Yes," she said, and then she added, "and maybe I will give it to someoone!"

"Or maybe someday you will have a little girl who will find it and get to find out about you!" I said.

Her eyes got big and her mouth opened. Her head tilted back, as though the idea was just too incredible. "Well then I'm deffnittly not giving it away to someone!"

Her mom and I both cracked up.

"Have fun with your book!", I said as they were leaving.

********************

Another woman and daughter came up to the counter with a stack of books and a Hunger Games tote back to buy.

I asked if they were part of our store's Kid's Club program, and the woman gestured over to her daughter and said, "I don't think so, she turns 13 tomorrow, and we're getting a few books for her for her birthday!

"Yes," I said, "that's too old for the Kid's Club, but I think books are a great birthday gift!"

"I do too," the mom said. "A few years ago we decided that for birthdays and Christmas, we'd give the kids something they need, something to read, something they want, and something to wear."

"Oh, I like that," I said. "It kind of narrows it down and helps it all not be so overwhelming."

"I know. I wish I could say I came up with the idea, but I didn't," she said.

"Where did you get the idea?" I asked.

"A friend of ours was out of work. He and his wife sat down with their family and said that they couldn't afford to do gift-giving like they had in the past, so this is how they were going to do it. The kids could tell them what they wanted, but the items had to fit in those parameters," she explained.

"That's great. What a good idea. What were the four things again?", I asked as I got a piece of paper to write them down.

"Something they need, something to read, something they want, and something to wear."

"Thanks! And happy birthday!", I said to the girl, who had been standing quietly by the register, eying the books eagerly.

Thanks for reading! You can "like" us on our facebook page, NOT The New York Times Book Review. You can also send us email: 2of3Rs(AT)gmail(DOT)com. Clicking on the book cover will take you to Amazon's web page for the book. Clicking on the underlined book cover may take you to Barnes and Noble's web page for the book. Purchasing through these links helps support the blog.

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.

*******************************

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!"

*****************************

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.

Thanks for stopping by the blog! You can "like" us on our facebook page, NOT The New York Times Book Review. You can also send us email: 2of3Rs(AT)gmail(DOT)com.

Customers 35

A young woman, early 20's, long hair piled in a bun, wearing a big scarf around her neck came to the Information desk.

"Can I help you find something?", I asked.

"Yes, I'm looking for A CABIN IN THE WOODS? Do you have it?", she asked.

"CABIN IN THE WOODS? From the movie?", I asked, trying to get clarification. I was not aware of a book from the recent horror/comedy movie, but maybe there was one. "It was a in the theaters fairly recently, is there a book?"

"Um, I don't think so," she said. "Um, there's a guy? And he's in a cabin? In the woods?..." She trailed off.

"Is it...THE SHACK?", I asked.

"That's it!", she said.

"Right over here, I'll show you. That we do have."

**********************

A man, late 70's, early 80's, white hair and moustache, came to the counter. I asked him if he had one of our member cards and he said he did, but told me I'd have to look up his membership with the phone number.

"Sure," I said. "What's your phone number?"

He told me his number, which had a nice repetition of numbers for the last four digits.

"That's an easy number to remember," I said.

"I'll have to tell you how I got that number," he paused. "I was calling the phone company and they gave me a number that I didn't like. My wife didn't like this very much, she was sitting right there, and I told the woman from the phone company: 'My wife is feeble-minded. I need a number that's really easy to remember,' and they gave us this one! My wife didn't like that so much." He shook his head and smiled.

"So she didn't need to have an easy number?", I asked.

"Nope. She was madder than anything, hearing me tell that woman that she was feeble minded," he said, still smiling.

"But you got a good number!" I was laughing. He was too.

Thanks for reading the blog! You can send us email: 2of3Rs(AT)gmail(DOT)com. You can also "like" us on our facebook page, NOT The New York Times Book Review.

Customers 30

A man, greyish, thinning hair, about 6"1', wearing jeans and a blue all-weather jacket, came up to the counter.

"Can I help you?" I asked.

"I'm looking for a book about Ireland," he said.

"Do you want travel/guide books about Ireland? Or more books with photos in them? Or..."

"I'd like one with photographs in them, sort of a coffee table book," he said.

"Well, let me see what we might have. There are a couple of places to look. Often in our bargain section there are books about Ireland," I said, walking toward the section. "Yes, here's one on Italy...one on Spain...I'm not seeing Ireland right here," walking towards another bay to try and find another one.

"Did you know that Ireland was named after a goddess? The goddess Eire, E-I-R-E, was who they worshiped, so the name of the country is literally from Eire's land, which became Ireland."

"Hmmm, oh, I didn't know that," I said.

"And England," he said, warming up to his subject, "comes from Anglo-land, the people were called Anglos, as in Anglo-Saxon, so the name of the country came from Anglo-land and is now today England."

"Ah," I murmured. We were now in the pictorial book section of travel..."I'm not seeing anything on Ireland here, we have a lot that is more local. We have some books on Ireland in the general travel section, but they are really guide books."

"Yes," he said. "I don't need a guide book. Do you have any calendars?"

"We do!" I said. "And I know we have some on Ireland." I start walking towards the calendars.

"And did you know that Scotland derived its name from originally being called the Picts. The king of the Picts was originally called Rex Pictorum, but then they changed it to Rex Alban, which is translated as King of Scots, so the land became known as Scotland."

"Hmm, I didn't know that," I said. "Here are two Ireland calendars, and there might be more. This is the area they'd be in."

"Oh, that's great, just great. Thank you very much," he said. "This is just what I'm looking for."

I left him to look at the calendars. About 20 minutes later he came up to the register with two calendars to purchase, one about Ireland, the other showing Landscapes of Britain.

"Here's what I found," he said. "These will be great. Now if you want to find out more about the history of names...let's see, I was just reading about it in National Geographic, and it's right here..." He picks up a copy of National Geographic from the magazine rack that is right next to my register. "Let's see, it gives a lot of background and history..." He's flipping through the magazine... "Oh, here it is, the cover story. Anyway. It's a good article. You could look at it if you want to find out more about how places got their names. Thank you for your help."

"Sure, have a good day."

***************************

A man about in his mid 70's, blue rain jacket on, walked up to the information desk with a slight limp.

"Sandwiches," he said. "There's a book called SANDWICHES. Do you have it?"

I start searching in the computer."There are quite a few books with SANDWICHES as the title, do you know anything else about it?"

"It was featured in the Wall Street Journal a few weeks ago. And the author's name is Ron. I don't know the last name."

"Okay, hmm, I'm not getting anything with the title SANDWICHES and Ron, though there are quite a few books with SANDWICHES as the title...I'm going to search on the internet and see what might come up."

"Okay, I'm going to have to go sit down. I continue to search, using Google to search for the book, using Wall Street Journal and Sandwiches as search words. I find a book called SCANWICHES by Jon Chonko that has pictures of sandwiches, and print out an information page about the book.

       

I find him sitting in the children's section on a bench. "I did find a book called SCANWICHES that was featured in the Wall Street Journal, I'm wondering if this is the book you're looking for."

"That's it," he says. "That's the one."

"We don't have it in the store, but I can order it for you, would you like to do that?"

"Yes, I would," he says, starting to get up.

"Do you need to stay here? I can just get your information and place the order," I said.

"No, I'm okay now. I just had to sit for a bit," he said.

He follows me back to the information desk and I get the book ordered for him.

"Thank you," he says.

***************************

A woman, late 60's, dyed short brown hair, faded lipstick, comes up to me while I'm at the register. "Do you have any Christmas mysteries?"

"We do, though but they don't have their own section, they'd be mixed in with the regular mysteries, though a few of them might be on a Christmas table or in a new release display. I can get someone to help you find some."

"Oh, that's okay. I'll come back. I was already over in the mystery section. I don't usually read mysteries, only at Christmas! I don't know what that's about, really. I don't know, maybe I just like a little murder around the holidays, you know, something scary lurking behind the Christmas tree."