Comments on Lookit what I made!: Making Shoplifting a Pleasure

I work in a book store, in case you forgot.

2009-02-07T04:19:00.000-05:00
I work in a book store, in case you forgot.

1. Late August, an older black woman shuffles in...she asks if we have a trash can behind the counter. I assume she just needs to spit out gum, so I reach down and pick up the waste basket. Had I been paying more attention I would have seen the horrified expression of the associate standing next to me. I was standing at such an angle that I could not see the dirty diaper in the woman's hand, but I was able to hear it thunk into the trash can. Please note at this point that this woman did not enter with anyone, least of all a small child who might have need of a fresh diaper. I stand there stunned as she quickly walks away without even a thank you or a backward glance. After I compose myself into a somewhat less agitated manner I carry the trash pail to her and tell her that we can not have "this sort of thing" at our front desk and that she'll have to take it back. Her response: "Well, I guess I might as well just take the whole thing then..." Implying the plastic bag lining the basket. I tell her to go right ahead, and she does and leaves the store carrying her little sack of crap. Once again I would like to point out that there was no child of diaper wearing age associated with this elderly woman.

2. Every phone call to the store goes about the same way: "Hi, thanks for calling -----, this is Matt, how may I help you?" The response to this is always thus: "I'm lookin' for a book." This is then followed by a long pause where I am expected to say something in return, some kind of affirmative to prove that I understand that they called a book store looking for a book. I have chosen instead to begin waiting silently until they tell me what exactly it is they want. Most people assume they've been hung up on, others accuse they can hear me breathing and wonder why I say nothing, why I don't give them the affirmation they so desperately require in order to continue some weird ingrained phone rhetoric.

3. I have had people ask me to help find books they do not know the title, the author, or even the subject matter to; but they do remember that the book had a red cover.

-- MJ

P.S. As I'm sure your stories are, these are just the tip of the iceberg.