tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32570460.post5147825789253736701..comments2024-03-13T07:34:24.149+00:00Comments on The Age of Uncertainty: BooksellersSteerforthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07627936539372313828noreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32570460.post-55911816212511765082012-04-20T11:01:57.271+00:002012-04-20T11:01:57.271+00:00A great insight into the bookselling trade.
Sad ...A great insight into the bookselling trade. <br />Sad to say I jumped ship after 3 new owners in 4 years with each one managing to destroy a bit more of the business during their term of ownership. Changing our motley bunch of successful managers (not a sane one amongst them) for young suits, improving it to the point of making the company extinct. Corporate image has a lot to answer for.MizzKayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01495504302054399743noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32570460.post-45668308109983837452012-04-17T22:12:58.987+00:002012-04-17T22:12:58.987+00:00Keshling - I don't think most booksellers hate...Keshling - I don't think most booksellers hate their customers. If you're getting good service, I'm sure it's probably sincere. I was just writing about the slackers who viewed bookselling as a stopgap and had no invested interest in the success of the shop.Steerforthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07627936539372313828noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32570460.post-73782138109085383442012-04-17T21:59:47.101+00:002012-04-17T21:59:47.101+00:00Great post!I've always found booksellers, in w...Great post!I've always found booksellers, in whichever shop I go to, to be uniquely interesting and interested people, always very enthusiastic and unfailingly helpful. Now you're saying that some of them hate their customers! I'm saddened at the duplicity of them, and the acting talent.<br />We had Borders here before it disappeared. What a fab store.<br /><br />K xxkeshlinghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07396657930250980852noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32570460.post-21151298353387618522012-04-17T21:27:43.260+00:002012-04-17T21:27:43.260+00:00A wonderfully affectionate and poignant posting St...A wonderfully affectionate and poignant posting Steerforth.<br /><br />In similar vein, here is an Onion clip bewailing what hoarding loons will do when there are no longer any newspapers. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFFGW8DLBrwThe Poet Laura-eatehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07779308486569849157noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32570460.post-73394518785249872442012-04-17T07:28:29.689+00:002012-04-17T07:28:29.689+00:00Dillons in Watford sounds very similar to early Wa...Dillons in Watford sounds very similar to early Waterstones days, except we had to wear a stripy shirt, which most of us made look as 'casual' as possible.<br />We hated the customer, I remember them sometimes trying to interrupt phone conversations too whereby we would wave them downstairs.<br />BevAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32570460.post-63553233698954882412012-04-15T19:07:18.967+00:002012-04-15T19:07:18.967+00:00Martin - I'm not surprised. I never understood...Martin - I'm not surprised. I never understood people who thought that there was only a thin line between bookselling and library work.<br /><br />Luis - Amazingly, although 'Black Books' is a wonderful series, I suspect that most people in Britain haven't seen it. <br /><br />Desperate Reader - Yes, it's funny how the people who are brought in to make a company more business-like often end up killing it. In the case of Oddbins and Waterstone's, I think that the senior management thought that it was somehow possible to keep the quirkiness and eccentricity that the public love, whilst introducing more central controls.<br /><br />But once you started telling the managers that they have to do X, Y and Z, they stop caring and the business dies.Steerforthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07627936539372313828noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32570460.post-79230327203600789002012-04-15T18:39:38.428+00:002012-04-15T18:39:38.428+00:00I worked in Oddbins at the same time you were work...I worked in Oddbins at the same time you were working in bookshops and could have been reading about my ex colleagues up to and including the bondage outfit and small sticker reading wine is poo that a previous manager had stuck on the cover of the Oxford companion to wine. There may have been a fraction more drinking involved. Amazingly the company made money (though not much of it) until an attempt to run it on more business like lines bought it to its knees.Desperate Readerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15708411387912078122noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32570460.post-49917488389974131652012-04-14T02:34:57.842+00:002012-04-14T02:34:57.842+00:00The video clip you mention is from the TV show &qu...The video clip you mention is from the TV show "Black Books". Bernard Black is to used bookselling what Basil Fawlty is to hotels.<br /><br />I'd assumed that everyone in Britain had seen "Black Books".luishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08850897265111013261noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32570460.post-75887691368996616692012-04-13T17:36:39.749+00:002012-04-13T17:36:39.749+00:00I interviewed at least four Waterstone's emplo...I interviewed at least four Waterstone's employees who were seeking alternative employment, over the years. We did appointed one. Poor woman, I'm afraid an academic library wasn't really the step-up she had envisaged. She lasted just a few months.Martinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13494219959077922220noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32570460.post-81354674795209526882012-04-13T12:21:04.375+00:002012-04-13T12:21:04.375+00:00Foxes - I'm shocked that you brazenly displaye...Foxes - I'm shocked that you brazenly displayed your legs during a professional job interview! You've never mentioned this before. Is there anything else I should know?<br /><br />Rog - At my last job, I suffered the indignity of a 'high five' on more than one occasion, plus a "Go team!". Luckily, I managed to put a stop to it.Steerforthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07627936539372313828noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32570460.post-72538303450450111502012-04-13T11:35:35.561+00:002012-04-13T11:35:35.561+00:00" I realised that there weren't going to ..." I realised that there weren't going to be many fist fights for a proof copy of the latest Umberto Eco."<br /><br />Wonderful stuff.<br /><br />Go team!Roghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09780409453528524865noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32570460.post-60272733365497082012012-04-13T11:32:48.707+00:002012-04-13T11:32:48.707+00:00I was one of the few people without a degree who m...I was one of the few people without a degree who managed to get a job at Waterstone's in the early 90s. As far as I could tell, this was for two reasons: it was the City branch, which prided itself on low-brow celebrity book signings (Showaddywaddy, Muhammad Ali and Desert Orchid (yes, the actual horse) being just three examples), and so wasn't too fussed about literary credentials; and the Assistant Manager thought I had nice legs, although he was at pains to point out that they weren't the best legs of all the candidates.Foxesatdawnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06603294148538497587noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32570460.post-18847967083736057922012-04-13T10:39:50.016+00:002012-04-13T10:39:50.016+00:00Annabel - I am the winner of the official Ottakar&...Annabel - I am the winner of the official Ottakar's 'Best Fun' award for 2004. (I'm not making this up!) So yes, it was an enjoyable job compared to some I've had.<br /><br />Lucy - Good, I'm glad that was the right answer. Music's always been my <i>thing</i> - much more than books.Steerforthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07627936539372313828noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32570460.post-35521907855323582012012-04-13T08:46:16.226+00:002012-04-13T08:46:16.226+00:00Your branch of Ottakars sounds like it was fun. I ...Your branch of Ottakars sounds like it was fun. I must admit that when Ottakars opened in Stevenage it became a real refuge for me, it was small but cheerful and full of good books. Where I live now, I'm lucky enough to have an indie bookshop that has fantastic booksellers - it makes a big difference. They work very hard at making the shop the success it is. I hope the shop is still there when my daughter is old enough to need a work experience placement!Annabel (gaskella)http://gaskella.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32570460.post-73002448594307132812012-04-13T08:36:40.191+00:002012-04-13T08:36:40.191+00:00I wasn't after a silly or funny answer! I'...I wasn't after a silly or funny answer! I'm always interested in finding out more about jobs/careers, and whether or not there are any regrets. When Rob started at the college 6 years ago, there was a chap literally counting the years and months to his retirement, it soon became weeks and days. On the last week before his retirement he was quiet and sad, and on the last day was in a right state, didn't want to retire. I can see the same thing happening with my father. <br />Work, at the very least fills that time in the week which for so many, would be consumed with activity of a most unproductive nature.lucy joyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04863146546863419637noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32570460.post-88371698899070317592012-04-12T22:46:01.610+00:002012-04-12T22:46:01.610+00:00In another life, writing music for stage, film or ...In another life, writing music for stage, film or television would have been my idea of Heaven. I did do it briefly and loved the challenge of coming up with music that fitted the atmosphere of the play.<br /><br />Sadly, it didn't pay the bills and now I can't even read music properly.<br /><br />I'm very grateful to bookselling for saving me from having to do a sensible job. It was an occupation that, until the last couple of years of Waterstone's, didn't 'mess with my head'. I met some great people, had a lot of fun and read some wonderful books.<br /><br />Sorry for that dull, serious answer.Steerforthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07627936539372313828noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32570460.post-62572482482330489712012-04-12T21:41:27.647+00:002012-04-12T21:41:27.647+00:00Do you think there's a career you'd have b...Do you think there's a career you'd have been more suited to?lucy joyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04863146546863419637noreply@blogger.com