[Publib] 50 things

[Backwage at aol.com]

All right now.  Since we are on the subject of civility and got to  liquor 
stores on the oblique, my experience:
 
I worked in liquor stores and was robbed twice.  I was also robbed in  a 
bar, but that's just another argument against hanging out in places where  
booze is sold.
 
Liquor stores subject their clerks to a high degree of risk--if the owner  
doesn't work there.  Mom/Pop stores are different, but most chain stores,  
like libraries, let the clerks take the strain.  I worked at a 7-11 store  
and each time we got heisted the owner would show up with a bag of change, 
fill  the till and demand that we reopen immediately so as not to slow his 
income  down.  We may find some minor parallels to library work here, or not.
 
One thing I found helpful was to keep a baseball bat hanging in full view  
of customers.  That kept the surly types quiet but did nothing to dissuade  
the folks with the heavy artillery.  
 
My liquor store life experiences ended with the second robbery, at which  
point I began clerking in libraries for my pay.  Nice to be around books,  
but I missed those case-beer sales every Friday, and nobody would cash my  
check.
 
Some actually pertinent observations on retail relationships:
 
You have to know the stock, and sell it, too.  Most people know snat  about 
wine.  They come in and say, "I need something for a party."   You can't 
just point them down the aisle.  You've got to ask what they will  be eating, 
unless they're college kids, and then you know it's going to be  marijuana 
brownies and they can have anything.  Likewise your librarian  should ask 
what the book is for.  Books are for  something--for bedtime, for train rides, 
for school assignments.  They are  not "for reading."  Reading is a 
mechanical act, like eating--but it breaks  down into countless facets that give the 
thing its character and meaning.   And it is very much your business what 
for.  Publishers think very hard on  the end uses of their books.  This is 
because they can fail if they are  wrong.  Librarians don't think they can 
fail.  This is because they  don't have to worry that the other library in town 
is taking their business, and  they don't lose pay if fewer people come 
through the door.  
 
Quite close to my home is an upscale liquor/wine shop, and across from that 
 a supermarket.  Each sells wine, beer and booze.  The wine shop has a  
tasting area where customers can sample stuff they wouldn't want to buy a whole 
 bottle of on faith.  In that little nook they meet a smart, friendly, 
eager  lady who shows them and tells them what they need to know--she cultivates 
their  interest in stuff they didn't know existed, convinces them to spend 
forty bucks  on a liter of wine, and sends them home.  They have little 
tasting parties  and everybody goes home with something new.  Your librarian 
doesn't feel  she should bring out a book and say to the patron, "You need to 
read this.   You have to read this.  You are going to love this, even though 
it is a  hard read.  A truly rare book, appreciated by only a few.  Trust  
me."  How many times do librarians push taste on patrons?  Taste, with  its 
implication of superior pastimes, is out of fashion in the library.   The 
library is the supermarket, which simply tries to mash its shelves full and  
get by on volume.  Its motto is, "Heck, they've gotta eat.  Maybe  they'll get 
some wine, too."  In fact, it may be that the library is  actually the 
filling station for books--drive in, tank up, drive away.  No  human 
intervention involved.
 
Were I king of the world or any significant portion, I'd decree that  
libraries compete with one another.  If they didn't move the stock, they'd  lose 
a portion of funding.  
 
Last thing:  at the wine shop, the clerks are empowered to take  immediate 
action.  Their motto is "no problem."  They are ever eager  to see yours 
truly sent on his way to alcoholic bliss.  At my local library  the motto seems 
to be "I guess that one got stolen.  Maybe it was lost  somewhere in the 
system.  You could try another library."   Indeed.  And sometimes I wish 
particular librarians would try another  library, perhaps in Albania.
 
M. McGrorty
 
 
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