1/11/2010

The sound of one clerk clerking

The zen of book shopping. Clerk quotes from the mailbag:

It used to be in this shelf right here until the bookstore reorganized last month.

I believe I've heard of that author.

You know, I've been asked for that before.

Is that a good book?

It's in the X section. There is no such section. Oh there is, but it's just an unlabled shelf in the Y area.

It helps to think of the bookstore staff as improvising a Samuel Beckett play, waiting to deliver existential zingers every chance you give them. If you're a Beckett fan, or a Zen Buddhist, book shopping can be fun.