Why the **** would you write on that?!

[BookstoreEscapee]

OK, I work at a distribution center, and in an office far, far away elsewhere in the building are the vendor managers, who, well, manage the vendors. When new vendors want us to carry their books, they get processed by one of the vendor managers and assigned to someone in the group.

Part of my job involves editing data and doing images and commentaries on books that the vendor managers get from new vendors; when they get a box full they will send them up to me and I do whatever they need and send them back. So the guy who does the new vendor processing calls me today. He had been in contact with a new vendor and asked them to send a sample copy of their book(s), so that we can edit the data do the image. So they send in their book, and helpfully label the book as a sample.

In blue marker. (Edit: the marker is blue, not black.)

On the book cover.



So he wanted to know if we had anything that might take it off so we can scan the cover. We keep Goo Gone in the office so he's going to send it up to me and we'll see how that works. Now, these samples don't get put in our inventory to be sold...the vendor managers have a stash of stuff that's up for grabs (I gotta go up there one day and go 'shopping' lol). But still...does it not occur to you that, if part of the reason for sending the sample is so that we can make sure an image goes on our site, you might not want to write on it? Get some Post-Its!

[Crazeyal]

Ah gooberisms.. Just when you managed to hide away a SLIVER of hope for humanity...

[Andara Bledin]

My boss does a lot of buying with an eBay seller who does that sort of thing. They're one of those high volume sellers that takes one picture, has no idea what they're selling, and hires high-school dropouts at bare minimum.

We got a set of three books that were taped together with packing tape.

^-.-^

[Lulu]

Ooooh this sounds familiar, I get stuff like this all the time, top book of a pack helpfully labled in marker pen all over the jacket, sliced through from when they split the pack, taped into the lid of the box, melted into the heat sealed packaging, I swear, sometimes, people just do not think beyond their own actions!

On the plus side, I have found that good old fashioned polish will remove just about anything...no, really, spray can of mr.sheen will genuinely strip nearly everything off a book jacket without damage!

[BookstoreEscapee]

We got a set of three books that were taped together with packing tape.

^-.-^

OK, I admit I have done this at work a few times, but only when I can't get everything in the shrink wrap and I can't find a box to fit it. But then I will shrink wrap the books individually before I tape them. There is no tape on the book itself.

Lulu, I don't think we have Mr. Sheen here - is that furniture polish? - but I will see how Goo Gone works. I guess as long as the cover is shiny it should work; or if not at least not damage the cover...If I can't get it off maybe I can photoshop it out...that will depend on what kind of graphics are on the book...my photoshop skills are pretty basic..

[Andara Bledin]

OK, I admit I have done this at work a few times, but only when I can't get everything in the shrink wrap and I can't find a box to fit it. But then I will shrink wrap the books individually before I tape them. There is no tape on the book itself.

Nope. They taped the books together. Hardcovers with nice non-gloss jackets.

In another shipment that was to include books the packed in 3 of the 13 that were supposed to be there and as for how they were packed... they just tossed them into the box with the rest of the stuff without any protection or care whatsoever.

^-.-^

[Becks]

But, BE, that almost made SENSE!!!!!!!!!

:muttering: Idiots. Using black magic marker like that. Why not use silver?

[Rapscallion]

I had to talk to someone today in the fridge who was picking cases and marking them up with tape across the actual products themselves. It didn't take long to show her how the tape stuck to the goods like ... well, tape, really. A couple of comments about how the people we sell to have to sell it on after, and how I'd spent a decade in retail and knew what the buggers were like, she understood.

I've had to correct any number of newbies on that mistake, and it's a standard part of training because I've had to correct so many people...

Rapscallion

[Luna]

I freak out when people abuse books. Book must = clipboard somewhere in the world. Don't have a desk for your food? Use a book! Don't have enough room for your baby, and your purse and your hand to sign your charge slip - use a book. Make sure you press really hard so that there is a copy of your sig imprinted into the cover for eternity!

A co-worker once lent me the first two Eragon books. I suppose he thought I was too dense to figure out which one to read first, so he helpfully labeled them in big black magic marker across the fronts. I yelled at him.

It does sadden me that these people sending the books are vendors and you would think they'd know better...but it doesn't surprise me.

[BookstoreEscapee]

I freak out when people abuse books. Book must = clipboard somewhere in the world. ...Make sure you press really hard so that there is a copy of your sig imprinted into the cover for eternity!

It does sadden me that these people sending the books are vendors and you would think they'd know better...but it doesn't surprise me.

Funny you should say that... I got the book today (actually it was BLUE sharpie, not black...we want to be accurate, now...). He sent me 3 boxes of stuff and I was working on other stuff all day, but I opened them before I left just to look for this book. In addition to the word Sample, there is the ball-point pen impression from someone having used it as a clipboard... On the upside, the cover is mostly solid light blue with a solid green square so I can easily photoshop the word out if it won't come off.

The "vendor" is probably either a very small publisher or the author him/herself. Most of the stuff I get through the vendor managers are small/self published stuff. Some of it is pure crap; I find myself fixing mistakes in the commentary that I copy from the back of the book, or shaking my head at the sheer horrendousness of the writing that I can't fix. (I can fix misspellings and stuff but I can't actually edit the writing, unfortunately...some of it just makes absolutely no sense, and I wouldn't be able to make it better even if I was allowed.) I mean, some of the stuff I find would be caught by spell check. I once had some kind of writing guide that had 5 spelling/punctuation errors and one completely wrong form of a word in the one short paragraph on the back. Now THAT is sad.

When I was in the store and it was really busy with returns (like after the holidays) we often got to the point where we were just piling the returned books on the floor behind us and I perfected the art of tossing a book so it would land flat on the floor. I had a department manager (actually he's my boss now) who would see me do it and say, in a totally condescending tone (joking but not really) "don't throw the books." I'd just say "sorry" and toss the next one on the pile

[Reyneth]

On the upside, the cover is mostly solid light blue with a solid green square so I can easily photoshop the word out if it won't come off.

If you have any problems, PM me - I do so much Photoshop at work and for my stuff, I'm sure I could help you no problem.

[BookstoreEscapee]

If you have any problems, PM me - I do so much Photoshop at work and for my stuff, I'm sure I could help you no problem.

Thanks! I appreciate the offer, but the Goo Gone worked like a charm (though the warnings on the bottle are a tad frightening...). Even if it didn't this one would have been easy. It was written across 2 fields of solid color so it would only have taken the marquis tool and a few strokes with the brush. My brother majored in graphic art; he is my Photoshop-hint go-to guy. I email him when I have problems...much quicker than me trying to read the book. He can pretty much read a ComputerProgram for Dummies book and go take the certification test...my brain just doesn't work that way...too bad, I'd be making so much more money if I could do that kind of stuff...

[Gurndigarn]

Thanks! I appreciate the offer, but the Goo Gone worked like a charm (though the warnings on the bottle are a tad frightening...).

Goo Gone is wonderful stuff. Using Goof Off, however, is a goof, unless you wanted all the paint removed from whatever you used it on.

[AFpheonix]

Ah goo gone....how did I ever get labels off of product before you came into my life?

[JustADude]

Ah goo gone....how did I ever get labels off of product before you came into my life?

Lots of hard work, cursing, and scraping at bits of adhesive with your fingernails?