![]() Everything was precisely copied nothing was left to chance in the book, music, and gift departments. There was no room for creativity.Įvery display and endcap in the store was formulized, clearly marked on the printed examples that arrived frequently from corporate. Decisions were made in the chain’s New York office, and store staff had little say in matters of policy. This seemed counterintuitive, but for once I kept my mouth shut. ![]() Booksellers acquired a general knowledge about every section. There were no category specialists at B&N. Scanner in hand, I cruised the aisles aiming the red light at barcodes, waiting for the irritating sounds that meant one of three things: leave as is (R2-D2 chime), pull for return (three-note foghorn blast), or move to correct section (emergency-system burrrp, burrrp, burrrp). The store didn’t appear overstocked, yet there was a mad rush to return thousands of books. ![]() Along with my fellow trainees, who were both 21 years old, I focused on how to detect and deter shoplifters, use a handheld scanner for stock checks, punch in and out of a computerized time clock, and interpret B&N’s complex inventory codes. My book expertise was solid, but the B&N systems were a mystery to me. I was excited about bringing my career full circle. The night before my first day, I imagined helping erudite customers on the sales floor, expertly running the fiction and mystery sections, and bonding with my fellow booksellers over coffee, as we’d share witty, ironic stories about the bookstore’s clientele and the current bestselling books. The pay was $10.50 an hour, but the job would get me out of the house and around book people again. “I wish more of our applicants had your background,” she said. The manager recognized that I was a book professional. I was called for an interview the next day. I emailed my résumé to B&N at the Grove in L.A., just three miles from home and waited-but not for long. But B&N had now taken up the same anti-Amazon cry as the independents, and therein lay my justification. I considered my neighborhood Barnes & Noble, even though I questioned working for the corporate Man. I called my local bookstores, but they weren’t hiring.
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