God bless ’em, the customers who want to be helpful. The ones who think it’s okay to follow you to the back room to look for their book. The ones who walk so closely so behind you that if you stop they slam right into you. Don’t get me wrong, I think being helpful is a lovely trait in most areas of life, but for some reason at the bookstore, it can just be trying and can ultimately create more work for the bookseller.
Let’s start with the little kids. They just want to put things back. This is an excellent impulse, but unless they can understand what alphabetical order actually is, I think the books are better left in a tidy stack. I can always tell there’s been a helpful toddler in the store. All the books on the bottom shelves have been shoved back willy nilly. I’ll often hear a parent say, "You have to put that one back before you can look at another one." Well, the problem with this is the kid has no idea that his truck book goes back in the truck section, not on the bottom shelf of parenting, where he happens to be sitting at the moment. So what happens is, later in the day when I’m looking for the truck book and it’s nowhere to be seen in the section it belongs in, I expand my search, often calling for help from staff. Of course, we don’t find the book until it’s too late and we’ve already ordered another one or lost the sale entirely.
And sometimes kids, especially the little ones, the adorable ones, can shove a book back on the shelf, ripping or tearing the jacket, like nobody’s business. This all brings me back to the tidy stack. Yes, it seems like a lot of books, and I think this is what customers react to: it’s a lot of books someone has to put back. They stack up twenty books and realize this is a lot of work for someone to put back. But trust me when I say, I’d much rather have an enormous stack than books put back incorrectly and brutally.
The older kids and adults, the ones who do know alphabetical order, honestly have no excuse for not putting a book back right where they found. I love it when a customer who found a book perfectly well on her own, hands it to me and says, "I wouldn’t want to be put it back in the wrong place." I appreciate that, but seriously, you found the book, is it too hard remember that Risk Pool by Richard Russo would be under R in the fiction section? Now, if I’ve handed you a stack of books to look at I hardly expect you to run around and reshelve them, that’s crazy, because when I’m on a roll recommending, I pull from lots of sections.
I guess with the plethora of tourists we get during the summer, I feel like I’m fighting a losing battle every day: I just can’t find anything. Adult hardcovers are being placed on top of middle novels, travel books wind up in Science Fiction, cartoon collections are left in the bathroom (seriously). Please, unless you’re a librarian, just make me my tidy stack and I’ll be thrilled.
I will say of my regular customers who like to help, they do it in serious and meaningful ways. One winter day last year we were a little late to get to the store because of snow. We arrived and found one of our very hearty senior citizen customers shoveling the walkway for us. Now, that’s the kind of help I need.
boy, wouldnt want to come into your bookstore. You’re in retail arent you? Do you think there is something different about retailing books than any other product where customers “dont put things back.” It isnt. It’s part of the business. If you dont like your own child customers unless they know how to protect your stock, or they walk too close to you, close your store. Open a bakery where everything is behind glass. The spirit of books and bookselling takes a lot of understanding, not herding.
wow, cirk, you’ve clearly never worked in a bookstore, have you, and especially not in a children’s bookstore. imagine doing what josie is talking about, day in and day out, every single day. your stock ends up everywhere and can’t be found. have you ever seen a mother come in, grab 20 picture books off the shelf, sit down and read them to her two year old, and then throw them back on the shelves (ps: and not buy anything)? i think josie’s request is quite reasonable.
I couldn’t find my copy of the giver yesterday. My gruffly helpful customer said “aren’t these alphabetized, should be under L for Lowry”. Well yes, if I didn’t have customers picking them up and replacing them in the oddest places. I vote for nice tidy stacks.
I feel your pain. During my 7 years as a bookseller I would fantasize about giving lessons to kids and adults in the care and feeding of their bookstore (although the ones who might attend would probably be the ones who didn’t need the lesson). Don’t worry that some people won’t like that you are venting (see previous comment), it’s healthy to vent now and again. Anyone who works with the public knows what I’m talking about.
Maybe you can do what school libraries do — provide markers that kids (and adults) can stick in where they removed a book and then they’d know where to put the books back. Also, I’m wondering if you have a sign in the children’s area, “please don’t reshelve–put books in a tidy stack and give them to the clerk” or something, so those helpful children and parents would know that is what you prefer . . .
How about a cart system, as used in some libraries, placed in a central, visible location with a cute/clever sign saying, “Please return kids’ books here”…for example…and the cart could be very cute like an old timey tea cart, painted, stenciled, etc….
It’s true, any retail environment can get crazy with returns, misplaced items, and the like. And we all need to vent about it–how else will we get helpful suggestions from people who’ve been there? Josie, you may want to try a librarian tactic with the kids section. Put an empty cart on the floor with a friendly sign that says something like, We’re happy to shelve any books you aren’t buying today (or ring up any that you’d like to take home!). Cute and funny wins them over every time. Oh, and loads of caramel mochas helps with stress.
what baffled me the most were people who shelved books spine IN, pages out. In what universe is that appropriate? I shudder to think what these people’s homes look like.
As I say to each new staff person, “Every day an Easter Egg hunt…” As for having a sign, I doubt it would be observed by pre-readers, and if I had room for a cart, I’d be using it for a display. The worst offenders are staff who blithely put things where they THINK they should be shelved rather than where the inventory system specifies (and all other staff will look) — or even worse, staff who neglect to move stock from the back room to the sales floor.
Cirk, I hope I can attest to the fact that little kids feel very welcome at the Flying Pig! But it does get really expensive to replace the damaged books (no deep corporate pockets, either), and extremely frustrating when books are just shoved any old place. Makes them impossible to find for the next customer. The trick is to educate the parents, who of course aren’t thinking from a retail standpoint. They’re thinking, “Let’s help the nice lady by tidying up,” or they try to use the messy piles for a “teachable moment” (really, a control issue), e.g.., “Put these back or we won’t get ice cream later.” I always tell the kids (before it can get to that point with the parent), “Don’t worry about putting those back. That’s my job! I’m happy to do it. Just leave me a little stack.” And that’s usually all it takes. Once the parent makes the realization that, oh yeah, it actually would be more helpful not to misalphabetize the books, a happy new habit is born.
Having being the retail book business for years I think that EVERYbody regardless of station in life should have to work retail 1 year in order to be HUMAN. I find it shameful the way all retail workers are treated.
I’m a reasonably new Bookseller from bonnie Scotland and I’ve only recently found this blog so firstly can I say I’m finding it amazing and fantastically helpful! With regards to tidy piles, I have found that if I set up a small pile of books next to the play/colouring area then parents seem quite happy to encourage the wee ones to put their books on that rather than attempt to force them back into odd spaces in wrong places. To dc above me – I agree, I have been saying that for years 🙂
Gotta contribute a good one from yesterday: Knuffle Bunny by Mo Willems in the Essay section!
“wow, cirk, you’ve clearly never worked in a bookstore,” yes to Ellen who snarks I’ve never worked in a bookstore, but having special needs kids means we avoid places where retailers forget or dont care that there are children of all levels of ability. Parents are present, do help their children, but kids with cp, shake, kids with poor sight, cant see well. This article and your comment are again written as though there are only people like yourselves in this world. There are far more who are not able as you appear to be. I stand on what I said.
I really don’t think Josie is talking about special needs kids in particular in this post. I will apologize to you, Cirk, if you took offense, and you need to do what you need to do. I would hope if this post doesn’t apply to you that you would just ignore it. But many of us appreciate knowing that if your child is pulling out dozens of books, it really is ok and preferred to have them sit in a pile if I don’t have the time to put them back in their proper place. I think if MOST people knew the best way to be helpful, then booksellers can keep up just fine with a few books in the wrong places. Thank you, Josie.
Thanks Amy, but your apology is not necessary. The writer and commenter write about ‘children and parents’ who just dont get how to walk, how to shelve books… and leave out any accommodation for children (or adults) who have challenges… Many children are never going to be able to comport as the writer and commenter charge they ought… as though all children and adults in the bookstore world are as able as they are. The clear inference is that such children who cannot well handle putting/ placing/stacking ought not be in the children’s bookstore without heavier guard than the average abled child has. That they might, in their developmental delays, ‘walk too closely behind a salesperson’ again, seems petty and irritable. Special needs children havent always yet learned body boundaries which are mostly social, about how far to stand to speak, how far to follow … I’d worked for years in retail, housewares with tens of thousands of items, engaging with adults and children with various ethnic backgrounds, issues, abiities and daily life circumstances Does this qualify to know firsthand the conduct of customers re putting away, not damaging goods, etc.? I’d say yes. If you’re in retail, you’re in service to others. Accommodations to those who are served, are required every single day. I’d say, that if a children’s bookseller, solved to their satisfaction the issue of children of special needs having full access to books in a bookstore with minimal damage and mis-shelving, that those accomodations would preserve their stock in good shape from all children who are more abled. Just think, bookseller happy; children happy. It could happen. But it would taking planning, changing one’s world view. Thanks.
We have Lost Book Baskets on the floor in each section, with signs that say In a Hurry? Not sure where it goes? We’ll be happy to put it away for you. They rarely get used. What I find amusing it that adults really are as bad as kids when it comes to alphabetizing. Even teachers. But at least we don’t work in grocery stores, where people change their minds about something and end up laying something from Frozen Foods on the bread aisle. It could always be worse!
I’ve been staying out this, but now must comment to cirk. First off, when I speak of people following too closely, I didn’t say whether they were kids or not, so you’re making that assumption. In fact every person who follows behind me too closely has always been an adult. I am making no judgement on anyone, rather, I feel you are automatically assuming what I’m talking about. If a special needs child or adult comes in I am always happy to make accommodations, much the same way I help folks who can’t bend down to the bottom shelves or stand for long periods of time. My point ultimately is: I would rather people, regardless of age or ability, just give me the books to shelve rather than trying to do it themselves. That’s all I’m saying. There’s no malice or prejudice in that statement. I’m sorry if you’ve had bad retail experiences, but I assure you, if you come to any independent bookstore, you and your family would be welcomed with open arms and smiles.
Well said Josie. Not that you should have to defend your original post because as you so clearly pointed out you didn’t make any of the sweeping generalizations that cirk is so determined to accuse you of. Having worked my fair share of years (9) in a bookstore I too agree that in all cases it’s just that much easier if customers (well meaning as they may be) just leave books in a neat stack for store staff to put away. It’s part of our job; and something we’re more than happy to take care of. 🙂
I just gave my youngest son a haircut, and it brought back memories of when I used to cut hair for a living. Similar annoying things happened to me while working as a hairstylist. Little kids, and even adults, don’t keep their head where I put it. I say “put your head down please” and they move their whole body forward. They say they want a half-inch off, and they spread their finger and thumb at least two inches apart. Doesn’t anyone know how much a half-inch is? I have straightened up the magazine area countless times, and customers always left their Jack-in-the-Box or Wendy’s drinks sitting on the ledge outside. My point is, that there are a lot of little annoyances with every job. But I’m sure your love of books outweighs the little things like people following too close. I always thought that I put books back where I got them, but next time I’ll stack them if I see a place to for stacking.