I was informed last night (by Maxipedia, a very reliable source)that J.K. Rowling is the first author to achieve billionaire status. I have no trouble believing this (other than hearing it from Max)because I was in the trenches selling books last night. You may be thinking, "Elizabeth hates working at Borders! Why hasn't she quit yet?" To answer your question, for a few reasons:
1. Borders Group Inc. has stores all over the country- Max and I can go wherever we want for grad school (when the time comes) and I will always have a job!
2. 3 1/2 years is a long time to commit to something, if I've put this much time in already I may as well stick it out for the long haul.
3. I really like some of the people I work with
4. The discount (33%). Duh.
For the record I only work at Borders every now and again, and the majority of my wage slaving is done at Orem Public Library- more about that some other time- but basically, it is the job of my dreams.
Back to the topic at hand! As I'm sure you all know
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows made it's debut on the world literature (this applies loosely) scene this morning at 12:01. For those of you who were not fortunate enough to have waited in line to get your copy, let me fill you in on what you missed. Borders Store 0250 hosted a "Grand Hallows Ball" featuring face painting, wand decorating, fortune telling, a costume contest and wizard rock by a local band, "Potter and the Lightning Bolts".
The store was WAY beyond approved capacity and if the fire marshal had shown up would have given us a hefty fine.
Sadly I did not get to enjoy the fun as I spent the night at the cash registers. A normal sales goal for a day is $12,000-16,000 yesterday we did $46,000. That is kind of insane. Not only were thousands of Potter books sold, but so were hundreds of magazines and (ugh) mass market paperbacks- perfect reading material for waiting in line.
Some magical moments from the evening:
- The girl at the register next to me was asked by many customers if they could take pictures of her handing them the book. (most likely for their blogs/scrapbooks)
- I asked a little girl if she wanted to know what happens at the end (Maxipedia provided me with leaked info) she looked at me incredulously. "If I don't like the ending can I return it?" I mirrored her expression. I told her she could write a letter to J.K. Rowling and complain. Philistine that I am I pronounced it "rowling" as in rhymes with "growling", this benevolent young lady (8ish?) informed me that it is pronounced "rolling"- "At least that's how they say it in Britain" (in a bad fake accent, complete with eye roll and hair flip)
- A customer came in asking to exchange her books because she and her fiance were assaulted in the store parking lot...apparently some people accused them of cutting in line and were pretty mad about it even AFTER getting their books. They people who were 'wronged' waited in the parking lot until they saw the cutters, threw drinks at them and then proceeded to hit them until someone got head butted. I wish I could have seen it! Max said when he came to pick me up that there were police and EMTs there with someone who appeared to have a broken nose. It may have been the fiance, because the girl came in to exchange the books without him. Lucky jerks got a dry Harry Potter and an autographed copy of some book by a local author they had purchased also.
looking back at this post it turns out I had a pretty boring night and I'm sorry this is so long.
1 comment:
I was filled with dread when your Grandfather retired and considered going to work in a bookstore. Heaven help us. We would no doubt in no time be as far in debt as the national debt even with his discount. Fortunately he did not go forward with that idea!
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