MeanJoe striking a blow against wilfully ignorant retail customers worldwide. Preach it.
Funny rant though, Rooves.
Former Borders employee here. In the Borders computer system, as with most stores’ inventory tracking software, if the computer says there’s one copy, that really means “There may or may not be a copy in the store and you may or may not find it.” I always made sure to warn customers of this if they came looking for a book and the computer said one copy. That copy could have just been bought, or be waiting to be shelved, or have been mis-shelved, or picked up by another customer and left somewhere else, or picked up by a customer and still in his hands. In certain sections (like the Kid’s section I worked in), the computer was pretty much hopeless due to the mess customers made of the section and the huge amounts of unshelved books, so unless I’d seen that book on the shelf myself, Gods only know if it was there.
Like Lissa, I was the chick who actually knew about many of the books we sold. Even the ones I hadn’t read. So when someone came in and said “I’m looking for that kid’s book, you know, where the mom’s saying she loves the kid and then at the end he says it?” and I said “Oh yeah, I Love You Forever by Robert Munsch, that’s over there in Picture Books, on the end, blue cover, we’ve got hardback and paperback,” my coworkers started looking at me like I was freakin’ psychic.
Ho ho ho… it is to laugh. Better selection and service at an independent seller? I think not.
I know, I know, I’m SUPPOSED to disdain big, mass retailers, and champion the plucky mom and pop stores, but when it comes to books, I’m sorry- I like the big chains a LOT better. I’m sorry the OP had a hard time and Barnes and Noble, but in my experience, even when I want something relatively obscure, I’m FAR more likely to get it at a B & N or Border’s than at the homey little corner bookstore I’m supposed to get misty-eyed and nostalgic for.
And while the clerks at B & N may not be as knowledgeable as some at independent shops, they’re usually a lot nicer. They’ll help you find what you want and sell it to you without any smirks or raised eyebrows.
You say that like a big rubber dick is a bad thing. 
Don’t worry, slortar, I think something this city puts in the “water” causes that. At least it happens to me more here than on the east side of MI.
No. * Behind the Attic Wall. *
It is a kid’s book, but it’s rather haunting. It’s a story about an anti-social un-loved oprhan who learns to love again after she finds a secret room in her aunts’ home that has two “living” dolls.
Homebrew, you took the words right out of my mouth.
There are no independent bookstores in Thousand Oaks*, so I have to go to either Barnes & Noble or Borders if I want to buy a book (there’s a Waldenbooks in the mall, but it carries exactly squat as far as I can tell). I prefer to shop at Borders 95% of the time, because they have a better selection and a more competent staff (and less staff turnover, I’ve noticed) than the Barnes & Noble does. That, and they keep their shelves in order, which the Barnes and Noble NEVER does.
That fifth percentile of the time, however, I’m looking for a particular knitting book. B&N has a better selection of those, even if it is a pain to find anything in the crafts section.
*Okay. There is a Used Bookstore (the “Bookaneer”) and “Mysteries to Die For” but the latter only sells - gasp! - mysteries (and that’s what I patronize them for) and the former has hours that really are not convenient for the professional person.
Ah, that’s good. I thought the fact that I seem to be getting a lot…stupider…over the 10 years I’ve spent here was due to genetics or something. Good to have others in the same boat…
Thank you so much, Lissa. I’ve been trying to remember the name of that book forever (and I knew it wasn’t Dollhouse Murders). It’s the one where the woman always says “Damnation!” right?
Upon reading the Amazon review, I don’t think that’s it. The one I’m thinking of, a family moves into a house. In the attic there’s a doll house that’s an exact replica of the real house. The daughter in the family discovers that when she looks through the windows of the doll house she can see scenes from the past of the real house (like there’s a family around the turn of the century, I think, and another family in the 1940s who had up blackout windows). Basically she ends up learning about a mystery that happened during the turn-of-the century family which involves something being hidden behind an attic wall (which is why I mentioned it). One of the past women said “Damnation” whenever something bad happened to her. Also, at the end of the book the present-day girl who solves the mystery ends up forgetting all about it. Any ideas?
For fuck’s sake it’s Barnes & Noble not Barnes & Nobles. This never ceases to annoy me.