I usually find I have to explain stuff to them. Like how to spell. Or read. I find they're moderately unhelpful about ordering (they'll do it if you hassle them enough, but they don't want to), and utterly clueless about knowing how to search for a book/author on their search systems (okay, so that's an IT issue rather than a bookselling issue, but you'd think they'd train them)
I have worked in a book shop and I have to say that I think you're doing a lot of people a great disservice. I'm vaguely insulted about you opinion of bookshop staff, I can both spell and read and *gasp* I'm even IT literate. Using Borders as an example: Borders train their staff fully in the IT systems they use and the system they have is actually pretty groovy. They also have information about places that specialise in out of print books if you're looking for something that they can't get in.. and they willingly give out the information. It's fantastic if you turn up and know the name of book and the author and maybe even the ISBN, normally we get people who say things like "umm.. there's this book, it's got a photo on the cover, it's got some pictures in it, it's about the war" and they expect you to magically know what book it is. You have to remember that they searchign systems aren't perfect either, you might have all the correct details and it will still fail to throw up the book because it doesn't have the edition the ISBN refers to or something equally as stupid.
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Date: 2003-05-29 03:24 am (UTC)I have worked in a book shop and I have to say that I think you're doing a lot of people a great disservice. I'm vaguely insulted about you opinion of bookshop staff, I can both spell and read and *gasp* I'm even IT literate.
Using Borders as an example:
Borders train their staff fully in the IT systems they use and the system they have is actually pretty groovy. They also have information about places that specialise in out of print books if you're looking for something that they can't get in.. and they willingly give out the information.
It's fantastic if you turn up and know the name of book and the author and maybe even the ISBN, normally we get people who say things like "umm.. there's this book, it's got a photo on the cover, it's got some pictures in it, it's about the war" and they expect you to magically know what book it is. You have to remember that they searchign systems aren't perfect either, you might have all the correct details and it will still fail to throw up the book because it doesn't have the edition the ISBN refers to or something equally as stupid.