Pain Free?

A wiry older man with white hair and beard came up to the register for checkout. He had one book to buy. It was Pain Free: A Revolutionary Method for Stopping Chronic Pain by Pete Egoscue.

"I buy a lot of these. I have used it, I've given it to friend and relatives. It really works." He shook his head. "It sounds silly to think that one book could make so much difference, but this one DOES. It's amazing."

       

"That's great," I say, not thinking much of it.

"I can't tell you how many people I've given it to, and it's helped all of them. People with back pain or knee pain or neck pain...instead of surgery or drugs, his method works."

I start to pay more attention. "My knee has been bothering me, my doctor wants me to do physical therapy."

"You should really look at this book. It's amazing how well it works. It gets rid of the pain. Completely rid of the pain."

"Hmmm. I don't like pain, and I'm not all that thrilled about physical therapy...I may just take a look at it."

"I think you should. Good luck!," he said as he walked out of the store.

My knee had been swollen and very painful. My doctor had recommended physical therapy, and medication, and a brace.

I did look at the book. I bought it.

It took me a few weeks to take the time to read any of it, and then a few days to start doing any of the exercises. Egoscue presents exercises that target specific areas, knees, feet, hips, backs, etc. His theory is that the way we move in our daily lives causes our body to get out of alignment. His exercises are designed to bring the body back into alignment. He says that the first time the exercises are tried, you should feel better. With his exercises, one shouldn't need medication or physical therapy or braces.

I tried the exercises, and my knee DID feel better that first day. I've been doing the exercises fairly regularly and my knee is a LOT better. No more swelling and the pain is almost completely gone.

The white haired man was right.

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Customers 17

Customer: Do you have the book about Robin Hood?

Me: A specific book about Robin Hood or just a book on Robin Hood?

Customer: No, a particular one. You know, it's about Robin Hood. I know it saw it in here...I think it was right over here when I was here before, but I could be wrong about that.

Me: If I put Robin Hood into the computer's search, I'll get lots of results...is it a kids' book? Fiction? Science Fiction/Fantasy?

Customer: No, it's not a kids' book. I don't know, I thought it was right over here before.

Me: Well, let me look...is the one you're looking for just called Robin Hood?

Customer: Yes, it's called Robin Hood. It's part of a trilogy.

Me: A trilogy? (ah, we might be getting somewhere) Do you know the name of the author? Or titles of the other books in the trilogy? Because, like I said, just putting in Robin Hood brings up a LOT of books.

Customer: Yes, the second one is called Scarlet and the third one is called Tuck.

Me: Ah. (searching) Here is it. Stephen Lawhead is the author. It's in science fiction/fantasy. We should have all of them. The first one is called Hood. (taking her over to the section) Here they are.

Customer: Oh, thank you! I never would have found them!

           

Customer: I'm looking for books about eating well.

Me: Cookbooks? Or diet books?

Customer: Cookbooks. About eating well.

Me: We have a section in cookbooks about healthy eating...

Customer: No, no, it's called Eating Well.

Me: Oh, sorry. Let me look it up.

Customer: It's just called Eating Well. It's also a magazine. It's a pretty large book. Well, not that large. (she looked impatient with me)

Me: There are several books books with EatingWell as part of the title.

Customer: No, it's just called EatingWell. (adamant)

Me: (again) There are several books that look as though they are put out by the same people who do the magazine. I'm not seeing one that is just called EatingWell...There's The Essential EatingWell Cookbook, there's The Simple Art of EatingWell, there's The EatingWell Healthy in a Hurry Cookbook, there's EatingWell Serves Two...

Customer: The title is just EatingWell.

Me: (walking over to the section) Let me show you what we have in stock...we have The Essential EatingWell Cookbook and The Simple Art of EatingWell...

Customer: (takes the second book) This is it! That's exactly it! Thank you so much!

Me: Sure. I'm glad we had it for you.

           

Customer: I'm looking for this book. It says you have it here. (he holds out a phone with a tiny picture of a book. I can barely read the title)

Me: Do you have a product number for it?

Customer: I don't know, it's YOUR website.

Me: Okay, I'll try to look it up, can I see the title again, please? (I check the computer) Ah, it comes up but it's not in the store. I can order it for you.

Customer: Well it says right on it that you have it in the store. (and sure enough, there is a white banner across the corner of the book that says "In Store")

Me: I think that means that you can read it in the store on your electronic device. We don't actually have the book in the store, but I can order it for you.

Customer: Why would I want you to do that? For $9.99 I can get it as an e-book.

Me: You sure can. Okay, then.

        

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Possible Staff Recommendation Themes

We have a new guy at work. I asked him to select a book for this month's Staff Recommendations, and told him about how we do that.

"There's usually a theme, you pick a book, write a little blurb, I type it up and we put it on the bay for customers to see. There didn't used to be a theme, but one (long, slow) Fourth of July here at the store, we got the idea of having a theme. The first theme we came up with was that the author of whatever book they picked had to have a birthday in August (the upcoming month). For October the theme was the scariest book they'd ever read. This month it's Books We LOVE (leading into Valentine's Day)." (The Lover's Dictionary by David Levithan on the top shelf.)

"Oh, I see," he said. "So how about a month where you pick books where you hated the ending?"

I laughed. "That's probably not the best way to sell the books. I sure like the idea, though, and I know exactly which one I'd pick. The Horse Whisperer. A friend of mine read it and she threw it across the room as soon as she finished the last page because she was so disgusted with the ending. I read it and agreed with her, I thought the ending was a cop out."

He laughed. "Okay, right, probably not the best."

For the rest of the day I was thinking of other possible themes, some of which may be showing up in our Staff Recommendations Bay in the near future...

Desert Island Book...one book you'd take to a desert island.

A Book That Made Me Laugh Out Loud

A Book That Changed My Life

The Most Moving Book I Ever Read

Anyone have any other ideas of themes that might help SELL books?

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What Some Booksellers are Reading

The store manager started it. She made it her staff recommendation for this month and is telling everyone (staff and customers) to buy it and read it.

And we are.

         

David Levithan, creative author that he is, tells a love story through dictionary definitions. Small and spare, one definition to a page, some of the entries are luminous with insight and poignancy. Alternating between being on the cusp of a new and lovely relationship and the messy and sometimes heartbreaking middle, each entry gives insight into the relationship.

In quiet moments at the store (which we're now beginning to have again now that the holiday rush is slowing down), we've been reading entries out loud to each other.

Some of my favorites...

"blemish, n.
The slight acne scars. The penny-sized, penny-shaped birthmark right above your knee. The dot below your shoulder that must have been from when you had chicken pox in third grade. The scratch on your neck - did I do that?
The brief transcript of moments, written on the body, is so deeply satisfying to read."

"encroach, v.
The first three nights we spent together, I couldn't sleep. I wasn't used to your breathing, your feet on my legs, your weight in the bed. In truth, I still sleep better when I'm alone. But now I allow that sleep isn't always the most important thing."

Some of my other favorites...meander, latitude, corrode,elegy, nomenclature, contiguous, paleontology, sacrosanct, woo.

Oh my, what a wonderful book.