The Diary of a Bookseller

TUESDAY, 9 SEPTEMBER

Online orders: 3

Books found: 1

No Nicky today, so I was on my own in the shop on a warm, sunny day. Failed to locate two of the three orders. Nicky’s locator codes have been extremely inconsistent lately.

In this morning’s emails:

Subject: I have no money, I love books, please give me a job

Message Body:

To the Book Shop,

I am writing to inquire into job vacancies as I am a writer and like most writers, I am out of pocket. Normally I would resort to waitress work but I am crossing my fingers for a job that involves being in close proximity to a lot of books.

I live in a campervan and am parked up in the area as my husband is currently working with local potter Andy P (he told me to mention him, so I cannot be judged for name-dropping …). I have plenty of experience working with other people and good customer service skills but what I believe qualifies me for a job at your book shop is a deep love and reverence of books in all shapes and sizes. I have always loved books and I always will. If it was legal then I probably would have married one.

I have a hard-working and friendly nature and I can provide references if needed.

I know this is a hopelessly unprofessional plea for a job in the Book Shop but I assure you that I can be professional when needed/forced.

Kindest Regards,

Bethan

I replied telling her that her timing was perfect as the run-up to the festival is frantic, and we need as many pairs of hands as we can muster, but that there will only be work until a few days after the festival finishes.

Carol Crawford, the Booksource rep, called in at around 12.30 p.m. She always times a visit before the festival to ensure that I am well stocked up from her iPad full of new books. I ordered about fifty titles, including three copies of Scotland’s Lost Gardens, one copy of which I intend to keep for myself. Again I feel consumed with the questionable rationale of buying from a distributor when Amazon is supplying the same titles cheaper than I can buy them from the publisher. I suspect that things can’t continue like this for much longer. Increasingly customers are using the shop merely as a browsing facility, then buying online. This is particularly the case with new books, which will almost certainly be for sale for less than their cover price on Amazon, but not so much so with second-hand books, where there is a good chance that they will be more expensive online.

In the early afternoon a customer entered the shop and asked if we have a copy of ‘the book called Kidnapped’. I told him that, yes, we have several copies in the Scottish room. Without even bothering to reply, let alone check, he left the shop.

I made a wooden shield mount from an old tray, mounted the shot Kindle and hung it in the shop.

There has been no sign of Captain, the shop’s cat, since Sunday. When I spoke to Anna on Skype and mentioned it, she seemed very worried and depressed about it, imagining all sorts of unlikely fates that may have befallen the unfortunate creature.

Till total £235.47

27 customers