OK, in one of the threads here someone had reccomended a book about the american revolution by Barbera Tuchman. I previously read the Guns of August and really enjoyed the book so I figured what the heck.
I go to B&N.com and check the site to see how late they’re open (11:00) and punch in her name to see which books they had. In that process I found another I might want, ‘From Troy to Veitnam’. Good!..I’m all set to go, kids are in bed and I know exactly what I want.
After looking up and down those isles of shelves that are broken down into such miniscule categories that I think I actually saw half of on atom on one shelf and the other half on another in a complete different category and after bending over six hundred times and bending my neck sideways I decided it was time to ask someone who worked there. This is the easy part. They take me to a computer (which goes to the same web page I saw at home) and confirm that this author does indeed exsist. Then THEY go looking for the books right where I looked and conclude that they don’t have either one! This is not the first time this has happened to me.
Mind you, Barnes and noble is so fucking big that they can install an indoor tennis court, health spa, quicky lube and provide airplane storage and still have room to set up ‘biosphere 2’ if they wanted. What the fuck is taking up all that space???
I’m glad you asked! A full coffee shop with muffins, tables and tables of sheer garbage books and a check out line that would compete with any customs line at an airport. Thats what!
They have beautiful tables of trash they think we want to read: Iraq this, Iraq that, Tom Brokaw, that fucking asswipe O’Riely, why I should still hate Clinton, How to untangle african american hair??? 59 different editions of Tung Tsia (sp?) Art of war because Tony Soprano read it and miles and miles of discount books that nobody wanted.
The killer is that when they don’t have it they say “do you want me to order it?” Yes you fucking half-wit, you pretend to fucking have it so maybe you should order it! …but not for me. If I wanted to wait six weeks for a book I wouldn’t have shown the initiative to get in my car and drive to a fucking tangible book store, now would I have? I’ll get up tomorrow and go to Borders (who closes at 10) and pretend that rip-off movie and music section doesn’t exsist and hope I can afford the books there.
Not to derail your rant, but both of the Barbara Tuchman books are really good (The First Salute and March of Folly: From Troy to Vietnam). And I really hate the “lets take a classic and put it in the business section with a cheesy cover to get more people to pretend to read it.”
They had O’Reilly in at your B & N? I had to go to a different store to find my copy.
Try Books-A-Million, they have an actual In-Stock reference in each store so they can check and see if the book is actually there. Not sure if you can do it online.
Well, I wholeheartedly agree with you…B&N and Borders are the Walmarts of the book world. I work in a small independent bookstore and we have people coming in all the time who are amazed that we actually, well, know the books we’re selling. That’s we’ve read them, or that if they come in and say “there’s this book I heard about today on NPR but I don’t remember what it was,” chances are we (or someone else working in the store) will know which one it is. Plus, as a bonus, our sections are large enough that you’re likely to find what you’re looking for (i.e. there aren’t five different kinds of history sections or whatever).
I’d suggest finding an independent…they’re awesome!
I used to work at a commercial bookstore chain, and I was the Answer Girl because, of all my co-workers, I was the only one that actually read books. My sole talent in life is an encyclopedic memory for books and authos. (I dunno, it’s just a weird trick of my mind, but I never forget a book once I’ve read it.) I was the one to which they sent customers who asked for a book saying, “I can’t remember the title, or the author, but the main character’s name was Maggie and it had something to do with dolls.” Usually, that was enough information if I’ve read the book or a review of it.
My co-workers thought I was one of the wonders of the world, a freak of nature, but were always grateful for my presence.
So what exactly do all those computers DO at a Barnes & Noble?
If I walk out with the last copy of Mein Kampf don’t their registers trigger an order from the main collective? If they don’t then what the hell are they there for? I figure a place like that should KNOW if they have a copy of a book…if they don’t have it, it’s been either sold or stolen, and surely they can tell the difference!
Rooves–I agree with you wholeheartedly.I know I only worked there for a month,but I spent MOST of that month trying to figure out the stupid arrangement of sections. I KNEW what was upstairs because I practically live up there in the bad romance title/scifi-fantasy section on my lunchbreaks. But downstairs…oh god.If somebody asked me where anything other than the location of the bathroom and the cookbook section (which were,ironically,close together),I was lost and had to continually ASK where certain things were.
On the other hand, I love Barnes and Nobles, but I haven’t been in a store in over a year. I always shop BN.com-free shipping if you order more than 2 (not a problem for a book junkie), and I never pay sales tax. So I still get the discount, save $$ on the tax and never have to deal with those long checkout line-it shows up at my door in about 3 days.
I remember the days when you could stroll up Fifth Avenue and shop at two Doubledays, Scribner’s, Rizzoli’s . . . All gone, thanks mostly to B&N (aka The Evil Empire).
I work at Borders, and I can tell you what the computers do. If you walk out with our last copy, it take about 24-48 hours for the computer to update. So it will show one copy for a day or so.
Also, there is no way of knowing if a book is stolen. We don’t have magic powers to know if someone took a book.
I never really understood the anti-B&N thing. I guess if you are a small bookstore owner, I can see the resentment. Same thing if you own a hardware store and Walmart moves in next door. Other than that, I just don’t get it - seems more elitism than anything to me.
In case it isn’t clear, if the website shows the book, that does not equate to the store in your neighborhood having the book in stock. Next time, write down the ISBN# from the web site, look up the store’s phone number, give them a call and provide the aforementioned ISBN# and they’ll tell you if it is in stock or not - not too hard, huh? Kind of the same thing you’d do BEFORE driving to the small bookstore to buy a specific book, right?
Oh, and since it’s the pit: “SILENCE HERMAPHRODITE!!”
Hey, well B&N is so friggin giant that it’s hard to fathom them not having one copy of a semi-popular book. They give you the false impression that they’ll have your book just because the store is the size of a small sky-scraper.
As a follow up, I went to Borders and they did have ‘The first salute’ but not ‘March of folly’ which was fine. I found it by using that computer they make available to customers. The comp tells you if they have it (paperback/hard cover) and WHERE TO FIND IT.
I’m only going to shop there from now on. I promise.
Also, for some reason I always feel funny when I leave B&N without a purchase. Like either I’m stealing something or I’m a failure for not finding a book. I can’t put my finger on it.
As a former B&N employee, I can assure you that the computer your bookseller (that’s the term they use) looked the info up on most certainly told them if the store had the book (updated every 15 minutes) and exactly where it’s SUPPOSED to be. Now, it’s certainly possible that your bookseller was a ninny, and it’s also possible that the book had been moved or stolen. Neither of these would be the fault of B&N as a company, merely of either poor hiring judgement on the part of the manager, or perhaps some previous impatient and short-tempered customer who picked up the book from its correct spot, and then just put it down somewhere else.
For such a huge store, the local Barnes & Nobles never seems to have anything I’m looking for. The smaller John Rollins nearby always seem to have it instead. And they have cats.
I’m also rather contemptous of their scifi section. Ooh, two rows…2-1/2 of which are Dragonlance and video game novelizations. Color me impressed.
