msagara | (no subject)

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I work part-time at an SF/F specialty store. Once upon a time, in a world before children, I managed it, and I've been there in one capacity or another for a Very Long time.

I did something the other day which, on immediate reflection, surprised me. Three people came into the store; they were in their twenties, two men, and a woman (with very lovely red hair). The young woman asked me for recommendations--and this is the part of the job that I love, and have always loved, because I get to talk about books, and I can do that all day long. Seriously.

So the young woman was thinking about the various recommendations, and one of the young men came up to the counter to buy a book. It was a paperback (which will be relevant in a minute). He paid for the book, then turned to the young woman and said, "It's time to go."

She said, "But I haven't found anything yet."

And he said, "Well, how long does it take?"

So, I leaned over the counter, holding the book for which the customer had paid and I bonked him on the head with it. No, seriously. I bonked a total stranger who had never been in the store before on the head. With his book. Which he had just given me money for. And while I was doing this, I was saying, "Hey! You don't tell someone that they're coming to browse in a bookstore, but they have to leave just because you've found something to read!"

The young woman and the other young man broke out laughing, and the other young man said, "She doesn't even know you and she knows you deserve to be smacked upside the head!"

And then, of course, I realized that I had just hit a total stranger over the head. I think I managed to say "I have younger brothers, sorry >.>."

So... I was relating this with some chagrin to a customer of many years, and he was laughing at me, and at the idea that I was shocked that I had done this. I have never done it before. I mean, not if I don't actually know the customer.

When I pointed this out, he said, "Take a poll of all the people who actually know you and see if any of them are surprised."

So: It is poll time!

Michelle has hit a total stranger on the head with a book that he has just purchased. Not, of course, hard enough to cause any damage to anything other than dignity (hers and his).

[Poll #1425569]

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I don't actually know you, enough to answer poll, but I love this story, and I think it's fantastic and GO YOU! (for one thing, would a woman EVER do that to a man in any equivalent situation? I think NOT).

Equivalent situation ... hmm ... so my husband is dithering in the store over the anime DVDs and I've got my DVD purchase in my hand and I'm ready to go ... yes, I might give him some kind of exasperated comment. If we'd been there long enough I'd actually picked something out, we'd probably have been there plenty long enough for *him* to have done it.

But I'd never do it in a bookstore!! The horror!

I answered 'now afraid to go to store' jokingly. I think it was most appropriate. We need more guidance of the young by the more experienced in our culture. And yeah, head-bonking counts.

There's no option for "would pay for security footage thereof." ;)

I don't know you well enough to be surprised or not, but I want a poll option of "really wants to visit the bookstore now."

What Groblek said! I'd /love/ a bookstore where the paid booklovers were secure enough to call on the stupidity. Of course, if I worked there, there would be mocking too.

And yes. Yes, I do have younger siblings...

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roseaponi.livejournal.com - 2009-07-06 13:19 (UTC) - Expand

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msagara.livejournal.com - 2009-07-06 19:23 (UTC) - Expand

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roseaponi.livejournal.com - 2009-07-06 20:23 (UTC) - Expand

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estara.livejournal.com - 2009-07-06 13:35 (UTC) - Expand

*loves the story*

I'm not surprised but mainly because it seems like such a natural reaction when faced with something like that. Especially for someone who loves books as you well do.

Now, if you had said you really smacked him upside the head then I would be surprised because that's cruelty to a good book ~~if it had bent the pages or put a dent in the cover~~.

Now, if you had said you really smacked him upside the head then I would be surprised because that's cruelty to a good book

LOL! Bibliophiles unite!

That is awesome. I fully support the bonking.

...and I just realized that I think I may have met you once at said specialty store while you were working. I think you recommended The Name of the Windto me!

...and I just realized that I think I may have met you once at said specialty store while you were working. I think you recommended The Name of the Wind to me!

That would probably have been me, although we've all been recommending it, depending on what the customer has read that they've previously liked or hated -- I really loved that book.

Just friended you recently . . . but it sounds *almost* like something I would do . . .

I don't think I would have done it to an older person, but a young man, yes. (I'm 30.)

So... maybe it's not that I'm totally insane or impulsive -- it's working in bookstores. *said hopefully*

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comrade-cat.livejournal.com - 2009-07-06 20:50 (UTC) - Expand

Swing for the fences. Not only is it wrong in a bookstore to insist that someone else be ready to leave when you are (if you are really together), it's simply inconsiderate of the other person. Take your time, maybe read the book. That's why you just bought it!

I only know you on the internet, so I can't say I know you well enough to predict anything you might do.

But I do think more people ought to be willing to gently bonk errant strangers on the head.

Edited 2009-07-06 03:21 (UTC)

Hm. My experience is that my levels of what is Acceptable Rhetorical Violence vary massively across contexts and individuals; in high school all my friends were sports-playing guys (or at least a good deal more athletic than I) and tomboyish girls, and when I got to college I knew some people who were really seriously offended or worried by what I considered casual roughhousing. So, y'know, my gut says that this is fine and that it's silly even to worry about it, my social phobia says back the hell off until you know the person somewhat better, and I don't quite know which is the more rational response.

I think "Acceptable Rhetorical Violence" wins for Term of the Day. :)

I suspect, Michelle, that if it was inappropriate in this person's context, you would be subconsciously aware of this and you wouldn't have done it.

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fyrna.livejournal.com - 2009-07-06 04:05 (UTC) - Expand

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msagara.livejournal.com - 2009-07-06 19:15 (UTC) - Expand

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msagara.livejournal.com - 2009-07-06 19:14 (UTC) - Expand

This oddly made me think of one of your characters, but I'm torn between that character being Jewel or Yolana. The story was rather amusing, and I wish I could've seen it. xD

Yeah, I can totally see any of the Voyani folk (which includes Jay, I suppose) doing exactly that. Except I don't think it would be non-damaging.

I think the question is skewing the results.

If the person in question was tall, then yes I'd have been surprised you managed to hit him on the head.

If it was left as "Michelle hit a total stranger" then the surprise quotient goes down a ways. A long ways.

And if the question was "Michelle hit someone that she knows", I'd be surprised if -anyone- was surprised.

-terry

Books give added inches, thereby nullifying height differential.
I should know. I'm 5'1". But my license says 5'2. Not that anyone would know the difference just to look at me.

ANYway.
Yeah, no surprise here.
I would've done the same thing.

Re: skewed results...

kchew.livejournal.com - 2009-07-06 21:32 (UTC) - Expand

I only know you through your LJ, but I am not surprised.

Sorry, but that would have been my reaction, too...except I probably would have hit him a lot harder than it sounds like you did.

You done good. And I'm pretty certain she'll come back.

*laughs out loud* What a very very funny story. :)

It needed doing.... I am slowly turning into my mother over recent years, which sometimes leads to being brisk with strangers. Plus, having been a university lecturer for years, I do tend to see anyone in their 20s as a student, and treat them accordingly. We are eccentric. It's part of our charm.

We are eccentric. It's part of our charm.

I think I have to make that my .sig. Or rather, I think that line will make me actually start -using- a .sig.

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http://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/ - 2009-07-06 22:07 (UTC) - Expand

Some people are eminently bonkable.

Are you sure you don't work in IT?

Are you sure you don't work in IT?

If my husband were home, I would make him read this because it would make him laugh (he's a programmer). The only IT I work at is at home.

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mtlawson.livejournal.com - 2009-07-06 20:58 (UTC) - Expand

I'm not at all surprised. I once bonked a 12 year old boy over the head with a easy reader book. He was making quite a racket during Library introduction....

I'm surprised that you bonked him on the head. Not surprised at all that you chided him for being condescending to the woman and basically being selfish.

I was Not Surprised, but I was not "surprised that Michelle is surprised". :) I can see why you would have been surprised, as we often are by knee jerk reactions. However, I'm not surprised because you take your books *seriously.* :) (By "your" I mean books in general, not the books you've written.) (Though I know, obviously, that you take the books you've written seriously.) (It's morning, I should NOT be trying to construct sentences.)

(It's morning, I should NOT be trying to construct sentences.)

LOL! It's afternoon and I should be trying to construct sentences. Which I will do in five minutes. Honest.

But yes -- it was a totally knee-jerk reaction, and it was shocking only after the fact; I didn't even think. I just kind of ... reached over the counter.

While not at all surprised that you'd bonk a customer on the head, I admit to being a little surprised that this is the first time you've done it.

Ahahaha. Yeah, this, too.

I think the second man quite had the right of it. =D

And how many times have you hit *me* ? I bet you can't even guess to within 10. ;P

And how many times have you hit *me*?

That doesn't count. You're a nephew, not a stranger :P

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holmes44.livejournal.com - 2009-07-10 11:34 (UTC) - Expand

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