finally, a chance to use my superpower!
Today was SURREAL at The Bookstore, guys. SURREAL.
Our computer system went down... god, I don't know, I guess sometime last night. When I got in at eight, our computers were completely down.
Let me explain to you what, exactly, that entails. We couldn't look up books for customers who didn't know titles/authors. For customers who DID know titles/authors, we couldn't check to see where in the store that book would be (and before you roll your eyes and think How hard could it be?, remember that we have many, many displays that change weekly, plus lots of specialized sections. A book on the 2008 election could be in history, biography, current affairs, and any number of sub sections of those). We couldn't place special orders. We couldn't check to see if another store had the book.
Let's go further than that. We couldn't do maintenance, because along with the actual computers, the handheld electronic gizmos we use to organize the books were also down. When the day's shipment of books came in, we couldn't shelve them because we couldn't add them into inventory.
There was NOTHING we could do all day except ring sales and blindly try and help customers.
It wasn't that bad for me, to be honest; I was bored, but seeing as how one of my two sekrit superpowers is an eeriely encyclopedic knowledge of children's literature, I was mostly able to find things for people. (The other is the ability to watch the same episode of Doctor Who as mcwonthelottery.) I can't imagine what it was like on the grown-up book floor.
Around noon, the store manager asked if I had my laptop. I've been bringing it so I can read fic write on my lunch break. I did, indeed, have it, and he asked to borrow it so they could go on our store's website to do general book searches that way. It couldn't tell us where books were, but we could find authors and titles and whether or not we had the book in the store.
It was frigging bizarre, guys. We just wandered around with nothing to do in between customers. I checked my e-mail at customer service on my lunch break. Hopefully no one went through my crap and learned my dark secrets (you know, that I write gay fanfiction on the internet and I like Torchwood now.) or found my blog or anything.
Weird day. I came home and took a nap and had cold pizza for dinner. Good times.
***
I also read David Levithan's new book. I really want to make a seperate post about it because it brought up a lot of random crap in my head. It's about 9/11 and most people who have tried to have a conversation with me about 9/11 probably know I have some ~*unresolved issues*~ about it, so... yes. It was very... cathartic, in a way. I don't know. I liked it, though. I like everything he writes. I'm kind of a crazy fangirl. I'm totally bummed I couldn't go to his book release party this week. Stupid work, interfereing with my social life...
***
I AM GOING TO SEE DAR WILLIAMS ON SATURDAY. Oh man, I keep forgetting that. I am SO excited. It's been months! And I love her!
(I am also going to see quatredeathlady on Saturday, but it's only been a week since I've seen her, so whatever.)
I am seeing Dar twice in the next few months and Ingrid Michaelson twice as well. Katy's CD release is coming up soon, too, and I have tickets for a couple other concerts, I think. It will be a good few months for music!
***
Okay, I think the stabbing headache means it's bedtime. Or that I need to stop dancing around and headbanging to the music in my head.
Our computer system went down... god, I don't know, I guess sometime last night. When I got in at eight, our computers were completely down.
Let me explain to you what, exactly, that entails. We couldn't look up books for customers who didn't know titles/authors. For customers who DID know titles/authors, we couldn't check to see where in the store that book would be (and before you roll your eyes and think How hard could it be?, remember that we have many, many displays that change weekly, plus lots of specialized sections. A book on the 2008 election could be in history, biography, current affairs, and any number of sub sections of those). We couldn't place special orders. We couldn't check to see if another store had the book.
Let's go further than that. We couldn't do maintenance, because along with the actual computers, the handheld electronic gizmos we use to organize the books were also down. When the day's shipment of books came in, we couldn't shelve them because we couldn't add them into inventory.
There was NOTHING we could do all day except ring sales and blindly try and help customers.
It wasn't that bad for me, to be honest; I was bored, but seeing as how one of my two sekrit superpowers is an eeriely encyclopedic knowledge of children's literature, I was mostly able to find things for people. (The other is the ability to watch the same episode of Doctor Who as mcwonthelottery.) I can't imagine what it was like on the grown-up book floor.
Around noon, the store manager asked if I had my laptop. I've been bringing it so I can read fic write on my lunch break. I did, indeed, have it, and he asked to borrow it so they could go on our store's website to do general book searches that way. It couldn't tell us where books were, but we could find authors and titles and whether or not we had the book in the store.
It was frigging bizarre, guys. We just wandered around with nothing to do in between customers. I checked my e-mail at customer service on my lunch break. Hopefully no one went through my crap and learned my dark secrets (you know, that I write gay fanfiction on the internet and I like Torchwood now.) or found my blog or anything.
Weird day. I came home and took a nap and had cold pizza for dinner. Good times.
***
I also read David Levithan's new book. I really want to make a seperate post about it because it brought up a lot of random crap in my head. It's about 9/11 and most people who have tried to have a conversation with me about 9/11 probably know I have some ~*unresolved issues*~ about it, so... yes. It was very... cathartic, in a way. I don't know. I liked it, though. I like everything he writes. I'm kind of a crazy fangirl. I'm totally bummed I couldn't go to his book release party this week. Stupid work, interfereing with my social life...
***
I AM GOING TO SEE DAR WILLIAMS ON SATURDAY. Oh man, I keep forgetting that. I am SO excited. It's been months! And I love her!
(I am also going to see quatredeathlady on Saturday, but it's only been a week since I've seen her, so whatever.)
I am seeing Dar twice in the next few months and Ingrid Michaelson twice as well. Katy's CD release is coming up soon, too, and I have tickets for a couple other concerts, I think. It will be a good few months for music!
***
Okay, I think the stabbing headache means it's bedtime. Or that I need to stop dancing around and headbanging to the music in my head.