Day Seventeen

For the first time today I wondered if I was going to make it through the whole ordeal. I mean, duh, of course I am, because it’s not like a customer is going to pull a knife and go psycho on me. And if they tried there’s quite the sizeable counter between myself and the customers.

To put it mildly we’re all a little wacky right now. Like puppet shows at the counter, laughing hysterically over nothing and betting for pounds of coffee with customers (okay, that last one only kind of happened.) We’re all so damned lost, being tossed around willy nilly as priorities, plans and people change that we have to stop caring because it’s the only way not to say f-it and just not show up.

Which, yet another person did today. I get why someone wouldn’t want to stay in this kind of environment, but have the decency to work out the rest of the posted schedule (which is one week for us). nothing any of us can do about it now, though. Best wishes to those who are moving on.

Also this weekend I visited one of the “going-forward” stores. Ironically it didn’t have any of the books I wanted to pick up at my store. It’s a tiny, cramped building. It’s pretty, but it has no cafe (where will I get my Javaluka now? All the stores with cafes are closing here in Louisville.) and no non-Christian religious section. Maybe this is a pain unique to being in the Bible Belt, but as a non-Christian myself it’s really really hard to find a bookstore that doesn’t seem to equate “Religion” section with Christian Inspiration, Amish love stories and Bibles. Our store has the Koran, dammit. And a whole bay of Buddhist and Hindu and Zen books.

And like that I’ve become one of the customers Borders is NOT meeting the needs of.

I want to wrap up tonight by thanking my co-worker for bringing in King Cake today, which was a sorely needed moment of levity and relaxation in our day. Oh, and to my other co-worker who is quitting smoking despite all this crazy, I’m mad proud of you.