My day is either full of a love for books and reading, or a general sense of disbelief at the public’s attitude towards people in customer-facing jobs. They can be rude, gawking at your ineptitude for not knowing who the fastest uphill runner is, or that on the day before Christmas Eve, you can’t order a book they need for Christmas.
Or it has a wonderful atmosphere of inspiration and creativity, where you get carried away talking to customers about your favourite authors, bonding over books you’ve both read, or hyping up a book you think they’d really love.
Sometimes the day is full of laughs and happiness, where the love of reading is everywhere, and other times it’s a slog because someone asks a question that completely throws you off. Most of these odd questions revolve around how the shelving works, and you can give the perfect directions and still see them wander off somewhere else, into the boundless wilderness of the wrong section.
Most of the time, I do love my job. By and large, I get to talk about books all day, which is, if you couldn’t tell, one of my favourite things to talk about. Whenever I get into the flow of things, I’m able to have long discussions about books and their impact on me. Sometimes, though, this flow is cut off by a particular kind of customer.
There are perks to having this job… I can request early versions (proofs) of books I’m excited to read, use my staff discount in-store, and get first-come, first-served privileges that come with handling the stock. And, of course, I get to talk about books all the time without people getting annoyed at me. This is a particularly important perk, as books are one of my main discussion points.
I also just love being part of an industry that I’ve always wanted to be in. Writing and reading have always been deep pleasures and passions of mine, so being able to work for a company that sells and promotes one of my favourite forms of art is especially gratifying.
Being encouraged to read more as a way to recommend books to customers, as well as reading Books of the Month and being a judge for the Debut Fiction Prize, really rewards my love for reading. It also encourages me to do more of it, so I can have more face-to-face conversations with customers that feel genuine, rather than just rolling off notes from a checklist!
When reading (or any of your passions, for that matter) is part of your job, it can be difficult to balance things so you don’t ruin the fun of it while still engaging in the activity you enjoyed before getting the job. Being able to buy hobby items at discounted prices does help with this as well! But I’ve found that when I get into a particularly bad slump, taking a break from reading does help reset things. On a day-to-day basis, though, I’m relatively fine with reading!
So, most of my days as a bookseller, I love. Working in any customer-facing or retail job, you will get frustrating and rude customers, but you will also meet amazing, lovely ones too. And those are the people I’m determined to remember — those who share the love of reading, as I do.
