Thoughts on several subjects
I'm enjoying working retail. When I started the job, I thought I'd tolerate the job and enjoy the books. I do like the books, mind, but I also like helping people. Every request is different, even when people ask for the same books. I like helping people come up with gift ideas, decide which summer reading books would be most enjoyable, or just find that book they totally loved whose title they've forgotten. I like wishing people a good day. It probably sounds like I'm mouthing platitudes to the customers, but I really want them to have good days, nights, weekends, weeks, and vacations.
I think part of it is the contrast with tutoring. When I tutor, I get to form a deeper relationship with my clients, but if a client is tetchy or demanding, then I get to encounter that repeatedly. When a person I'm working with is unhappy, I have to keep dealing with that. The very worst clients have me mentally counting the minutes till the end of the lesson and the days till the end of the course. Most people in a bookstore aren't aggressive. If they are, they're going to leave the bookstore and probably not come back. Instead of stress, I get anecdotes.
On the subject of anecdotes, there's a particular title that we just cannot keep on our shelves: Confessions of a V ideo Vixen by Karinne Steffans whom you surely remember from A Man Apart or the many music videos in which she has appeared. Her memoir is apparently a tell-all about the hip-hop community. We've had the book on continuous back order since the end of June. That being said, many people who have ordered the book have not come by the store to pick up their copies. I've enjoyed speculating about the people, especially those who ordered additional titles. Some of the best combos include 101 Nights of Grrreat Sex, Think and Grow Rich, a how-to guide for opportunistically divorcing extremely rich people, and the clear winner, In Search of the Authentic Self.
Ms. Steffans appears in skimpy clothes and provocative poses on both the front and back cover of her book. The back picture is the better one: Ms. Steffans is in some sort of sumo crouch with her eyes half-closed. I guess she's trying for heavy-lidded sensuality, but she looks like someone whacked her good on the back of her head with a frying pan.
On Saturday evening, just before my dinner break, a young lady approached the customer service desk and asked where the restrooms were located. When I told her, she sighed, "That's so far."
It gets better.
Several minutes later, I was headed back to the break room to clock out for dinner. The same young lady was asking whether the cafe was a Starbucks. The cafe is not a Starbucks and contains no logos or signs to indicate that it might be.
It gets even better.
Once actually on break, I went to the cafe myself to grab some dinner. I teased Valerie, who was working the cafe, by asking whether this was a Starbucks. Valerie sighed and told me the further saga of the young lady. So, on being told that the cafe was not a Starbucks, the young lady stated that, yeah, but some Borders have Starbucks in them, right. No, she was told, Starbucks is associated with our competitors. But I have a Starbucks gift card, the young lady responded, I want to use my gift card. Unfortunately, we can't accept your gift card, she was told. The young lady wished to know why not. Valerie then explained that because we are not affiliated with Starbucks, we would get no money from the gift card. The young lady didn't see why that was a big deal. Valerie tried a different tack and informed her that our computers could not read her gift card. Again the young lady wanted to know why that mattered. At this point, Valerie offered to call a manager. The young lady decided she preferred to leave huffily.
I read book 6 and enjoyed it thoroughly. I like that Harry has retained his faults, but that he's showing more maturity. I feel like the characterization that Dumbledore received was nice, but a bit too-little, to late-ish. I was very happy that Draco received a third dimension, but remained a whiny brat. I like that the Griffindor Quidditch team can still succeed without Harry. I like even better that the games were not described in detail. I loved the ending.
That being said, I think that Harry Potter suffers badly in comparison with much of children's literature. Lloyd Alexander, Joan Aiken, Zilpha Keatly-Snyder, E.L. Konigsberg, and many others easily wipe the floor with Rowling. I cannot argue with
gmslegion 's criticisms of Rowling. The early books in the Harry Potter series are not good. They're so weak that I think you really don't need to start reading until book 3. This is the first book where Harry faces real problems, and the first book with an actual sense of danger. I think that Rowling didn't really sit down and think about where she was going and why until book 3. She starts closing up plot-holes and building more tension and detail in the story. This rescues the series from some of the characterization problems and decreases the sense of wish-fulfillment. The weakness of Rowling's world-building remains. This weakness shows up most obviously when she inserts satire into the books. Twigging the real world foibles reminds me of the real world and what the real world is like. By contrast, Rowling's world seems kind of anemic and lacking in consistency.