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ivan@stellysee.de
| From | Stewart Mason <flamingo@theworld.com> |
| Subject | Re: Audities record store workers |
| Date | Thu, 03 Jun 2004 00:38:02 -0400 |
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At 09:09 PM 6/2/2004 -0700, Lauree McArdle wrote:
>that's what I started hating about Borders, because we
>had to upsell on every customer ALL THE TIME.
I don't buy records at Borders anymore -- just because there are so many
good record stores here, not out of distaste for the company -- but a
couple years ago, I did have an experience that suggested that many people
who work at Borders have a higher than average level of despair. I was
looking through the music books -- which as always in Borders was just a
complete jumbled mess -- and growing increasingly frustrated when a
salesclerk stopped by and asked if she could help me find something. I
said, "Yeah, this book *just* came out in paperback, I thought for sure
you'd have it..." She asked what it was in a tone that suggested she was
just going to lie and say they were out of stock no matter what it was, and
then go into the back for her coffee-and-smokes break. (Did you see the
woefully short-lived show Wonderfalls? Well, Jaye was based on this
clerk.) So I said, "It's called OUR BAND COULD..." I didn't have the
title half out my mouth before she screamed it while -- I am not
exaggerating -- jumping up and down like a contestant on The Price Is
Right. And THEN, she -- and I am still not exaggerating -- ****leaned in
and HUGGED me!****
She really liked this book, and the fact that I wanted to read it made not
just her day or her week, but seemingly her entire career at Borders. She
spent literally five minutes combing the music section shelf by shelf,
talking a mile a minute about how completely awesome this book was, and
asking if I had actually heard the bands who were covered in it and stuff,
and when she still couldn't turn it up, she -- and this is something far
more rare than even the hugging -- actually went into the back room to
search through the new stock. She was crushed when she found out that they
didn't have a copy in stock, and made me promise that I would come into the
store again in 8 to 10 days and buy my copy there, just so she'd have the
satisfaction of knowing that they'd sold at least one.
Very odd.
S
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