And Daddy Calls

Several weeks ago I blogged about Mommy Calls. The other night I answered the phone at the bookstore and got a Daddy call...

"My son has to do a report about Napoleon, so I'm trying to find some books for him about Napoleon for him. Do you have any?"

"How old is your son?", I asked, so that I'd know whether to look in the juvenile biography section, or adult history or biography section.

"He's 16," the man answered.

"Okay, I'm going to look up and see what we might have," I looked in our database and didn't see that we had any books just on Napoleon. I relayed the information to him. "I'm just going to go over to the sections and see what I can find," I said.

"Oh, that's great," he said.

I looked in the French history section and in biography. "I'm not seeing any books in French history or in our biography section that are just on Napoleon," I told him. "We have books about French history that will certainly include Napoleon, but none just on Napoleon. We can order something..."

"Well, no. He kind of needs it right away. I was hoping to pick something up for him today," he said. He sounded disappointed.

"Have you tried the library?", I asked, wondering why the son wasn't calling the bookstore himself.

"Um, well, he lost his library card," the man told me.

"Ah. Well, like I said, we do have some books on French history. He might have to look through them and see if they'd have the information he needs for his report."

"I guess I'll just come in and see what you have," he said. "Thanks for your help."

"Sure," I said. "Have a nice evening."

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Mommy Calls

At the bookstore, we get requests for books over the phone all the time. Quite often, we get calls from women who are calling to find out if we have a book for their child. Their grown child. How do we know they are grown? By the books they request (college textbooks, adult novels). We also know because we hear the "child's" voice in the background.

Mother (to "child" after getting information from me): "They only have it in hardcover, but it'll be out in paperback next month. What do you want to do?"

Person in the background with a deep voice (another clue that the "child" is grown) will reply, "I just want paperback."

Mother: "He will just wait for the paperback to be released.

OR, the parent is calling (and it's almost always the mom), and asking if we have a certain textbook. We don't usually carry textbooks in the store, which is usually a disappointment to them. "Oh no. He needs it by tomorrow."

A friend of mine who works on a college campus calls these, "Mommy calls". Mom is worried about something and is trying to take care of something for the "child". So Mommy calls. She gets them in her office (Dean of Math and Sciences). And we get them at the bookstore.

We've wondered together why the "child" doesn't call to find out about the class or to obtain the book. And why doesn't the "child" call BEFORE they needed the book? Why does the mother take on the worry of not having the textbook for the college class? It is the student who will not be prepared. And the student should feel the consequences.

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.