Someone left a desk job to work in a bookstore and learned to run the cash register, manage receiving, and handle a hundred thousand titles. The work is harder than it looks: strict alphabetization, limited shelf space, constant decisions about where new books go.
Chapters
I went to work every day in a suit and I carried a bag because I was busy, but I wasn't that busy. And whenever I had free time, I took off my suit, put on my work clothes, and I worked the stores and they knew. I learned how to bring a cash register. I learned how to work the receiving room. I learned how to run the business. First of all, it shows that I was part of the team. Yes, but everyone thinks running a bookstore is easy. It's when you have a hundred thousand titles and everything has to be alphabetized and a box comes in and there are 12, you know, 12 different titles and from. For 12 different parts of the store, and you have to. And there's finite shelf space. You can't shove another book in there. It's complicated.
It is complicated. And so you've said a couple of things that I think are. Again, it's just. It's part of your nature. It's not part of everybody's nature.