Sunday, December 5, 2010

A Day (Another?) In The LIfe

I think I may have written another blog of this title not too long ago. But anyway, the last couple of days have been quintessential Booksmith. True, it's the busy holiday season so the antes are upped. But to give you a sampling, I'll note a few things.

We keep our door open to the sidewalk/street as many days of the year as possible. That makes for some noisy-ness. Today, no fewer than 3 major fire/ambulance cavalcades stormed deafeningly by. Two dogs had a big fight right outside our entrance. Two other dogs engaged in aggressive alpha dog stuff mid-store. We have a veritable Westminster (sp?) Dog Show variety walking the aisles on any given day. To all we give a biscuit. The fellow selling Spare Change newspaper for the homeless had a profane exchange with his girlfriend but assures me they're just fine, thanks. Coffee spill on gift book table, aisle 2 - such a LARGE coffee - oh, my. Chewing gum splat in aisle 4 and I stepped in it - drat. Diaper change of standing toddler in aisle 3 - best of luck with that process. Men's room toilet out of order. Women's room heater busted. Sigh.

Cute child was found crying at the front door about to leave to find his mother, who, when summoned via all store phone page, seemed pretty calm about her boy with tears streaming down his face as she paid for her various purchases. Tis the season for stressful shopping. Family members arguing, but laughing , about what is approriate for their Grandmother. .Someone banged into a display rack sending 3 china mugs to shard-dom inadvertently. Clearly, we don't abide by "You break it, you buy it.". Someone commented about the serendipitous nature of our Tate's Chocolate Cookie display flanked by Bananagrams , a game in a banana-like container - reminds him of a grocery store. We got a call from a Mom looking for a small menorah suitable for traveling for her child. We had a nice felt, finger puppet one. A customer wanted the perfect gift for a 15 year old Down's Syndrome kid who loves Karaoke - sponge shower microphone - done deal. For the local recycling activist, we had 2 books on where trash really goes - frightening, I assure you. A puddle on the floor in the kids' section (dog or child?) barely gave us pause. Someone needed 12 small magnets gift wrapped individually with post-its on each to identify. We sold 6 more Handerpants (see last week's Bmail).

Also lots of fabulous books on all subjects were sold. Amusing to see George W. Bush and Keith Richards (aka KEEF) side by side on our bestseller display. New York Times Top 100 and Top 10 announced and bookmarked on our shelves. Good times!!

It's a fun and funny place, our Booksmith.

Next year, we'll be 50 years old. Check out our "branded" Tshirts, magnets, mugs, pint glasses and so much more for the HOLIDAZE. Shameless plugging? Oh, yes, I do believe so :)

2 comments:

Paul Theriault said...

At most places if you've been there a certain amount of time you have license to say "I've seen it all", but really, as you've just proved, if you're paying attention around here it should only take one day.

Anonymous said...

Brookline Booksmith: Not just a bookstore, a fully equipped Red Cross disaster services station. Bless you all. I'm going to come do some sympathy shopping. I promise to keep my fluids to myself. :-)