Some personal musings at this late hour.

Hello folks,
I was thinking things over tonight. I consider myself a very lucky person at the moment. One of the dire headlines today related a story of more than a thousand people vying for one job. Right now folks are hurting and jobs are scarce. Now I work in books and public service which has never been a lucrative, promising career. As we joke all the time "there's no money in books." Right now the book store I work at has been forced to slim down. Although there hasn't been layoffs, there has definitely been an economic squeeze.

I started in book sales 8 years ago and I was damn happy to get the job. Before that I'd been working a series of glamorous positions in maintenance, custodial, and housekeeping. I had applied for a position in the books department before and had not even gotten an interview. The second time I applied I did get an interview and ended up getting the job. I was ecstatic to be selling books then and I still feel that enthusiasm today. It's wonderful when you can match up the right person with the right book. The customer/patron will thank you and in that moment some of the pain is worth it.

Last week I had a patron give me a dressing down verbally for being as he said "too helpful." While I really wanted to throw this guy's inferiority problems back into his face, I didn't. Today I was stunned (still am actually) when a co-worker of mine told me that she had taken 2 1/2 days off work because she just "didn't want to be here." Really. If I felt that way then it would probably be time for me to move on.

I love being a bookseller/pusher. All the negative that sometimes happens is far outweighed by the positives. (However, it would be nice if I made more money, but really I think I would just spend it on books.) So if you happen to stop by you local book store or library, look around at the employees. The one's that are still happy, even when nobody is looking, they are the one's to talk to. They are the reason that the book business will never die out.

Have a great weekend! Book Slave.