I work in a Book STORE, not a LIBRARY or a PICNIC GROUND!

[Hraesvelg7]

I work in a bookstore and from what I've heard from the corporate representatives people only briefly browse, purchase their books, then sit down and read a bit. Granted, being a corporate tool requires never being in a store and ignoring any and every fact that one might encounter, so they MIGHT be a little out of touch. In reality, I've observed that more than half of the people who come in will pile up books and magazines but have no intention of ever buying anything.

[repsac]

I talked to the MGR yesterday about this, and found he did a bit of research on this. Here's what he found:

Of the customers who would come in and take part in something like this, X (not real initial) found that while they may not buy right away, very often they would. He said, the figure is like four out of every five people who come there to just read. Further, he said that the simple word of mouth advertising he gets from it makes up for the difference.

Prior to allowing patrons to read (and not forcing them to buy) he said that his weekly take was around five thousand. (rather good for a book store.) With an average of about 100 customers per day.

After the rule change, he said that his weekly take has gone up to an average of seven to eight thousand. The average customers per day has doubled to 200.

There was a lot more he told me, but the point is he seems to be makinga good bit of money off of it.

[Amalthea]

I work in a bookstore, and when Harry Potter 6 came out, there seemed to be a few people who didn't wanna pay $21 for their own personal copy, but would come in, grab one from the stack, and sit in a chair and read it. At that time there were two chairs real close to the door to the back room, and me and a co-worker were so tempted to walk past them to get to the back room, and just "happen" to be merrily chatting away about how the book ended. Mwa ha ha! Didn't do it, but should have!

::sigh:: It seems like the only people who come in on Sundays are the ones who plan on grabbing a huge stack of magazines/books/sex books/kids' books/all of the above, read for a couple hours, then leave without buying anything. Honestly, I understand browsing and the whole "looking before you buy", and not always finding something you want to buy. But do you HAVE to grab 25 items and leave them in a huge mess next to your empty coffee cup, three feet from a garbage can?

[DigitalEngine]

In this part of the world, books in bookstores are sealed in cellophane packages. If you open the package without confirming to a store employee first, you must pay for the book.
If you need to open the package to flip through the book to see if you would like it, you must first notify an employee, who would then proceed to follow you to the book display area, unwrap the packaging for you, and then stands there and wait while you flip through the book and decide whether or not you want to buy it.

The larger book stores have big, mean-looking security guards conveniently placed in sections of the stores, but they would circulate through the store, discouraging people who would treat the book store as a library or a picnic ground.
The smaller book stores make you pay for every 15 minutes you spend reading the same book. It's okay if you flip through it for less than 15 minutes, but more than that and it'll cost you, bub!

I've never even seen anyone bringing their food into any of the book stores here. Probably because the entrance to book stores are guarded by the aforementioned large security guards and you have to leave your bags AND coats/jackets at the entrance. Pretty good policy, if I do say so myself.

[wagegoth]

In this part of the world, books in bookstores are sealed in cellophane packages. If you open the package without confirming to a store employee first, you must pay for the book.
If you need to open the package to flip through the book to see if you would like it, you must first notify an employee, who would then proceed to follow you to the book display area, unwrap the packaging for you, and then stands there and wait while you flip through the book and decide whether or not you want to buy it.

And where would this part of the world be?

[DigitalEngine]

Indonesia

[Jester]

Of course if you protested this behavior in any form, you were a heartless corporate lackey who hated customers and never did a moment's real work in your entire life.

Exactly why is this behavior that of someone who hates customers? These people aren't customers if they are just browsing, reading for free, or worst of all, dropping off their kids to read for free stuff they are not purchasing. You don't hate customers. You hate people who are trying to rip you off, because that is just what they are doing.

In reality, I've observed that more than half of the people who come in will pile up books and magazines but have no intention of ever buying anything.

I love books. A lot of people who meet me don't always realize this...recently I met a couple of my niece's friends when she was hanging out with them (all about 12 years old), and one of them, when he heard me talking about books, mentioned that I did not strike him as the book type. A couple days later, said niece brought same said friends over to my house, and they were met in the living room by my bookcases filled with several hundred books. My mom, for Christmas/birthdays, often buys me books or, better yet, since she is not always sure what to get, gets me a bookstore/online bookstore gift card. On my recent road trip/vacation, which had nothing to do with books, I ended up buying about 12-20 books in a roadside bookstore off the interstate in George. When my ex-fiancee and I were in NYC for my younger sister's wedding, we spent a goodly chunk of one of our days in Strands Books, one of the two best bookstores in the country, and we bought so many damn books (about five STACKS between us), we had Strands SHIP them to us! As I said, I love books!

Now, my friends know not to enter a bookstore with me. Because whether or not I purchase something, I will be there for a loooooong time. Usually I will make a purchase. I often stack stuff up (and move the stack with me) of stuff I am interested in. A lot of times I am trying to decide which books that have caught my interest I will be buying that day. And those that I don't purchase I put back where I got them. Novel concept, I'm sure. I think it is neat that many bookstores provide reading areas, but I just can't imagine spending all that time reading something you have not bought. Perusing, yes, but reading?

Now, when I eat out alone, I almost always have reading material with me, be it the sports page or my latest book. That being said, the very thought of someone bringing food into a bookstore to eat while they are looking at books they are not buying is just sacriligeous to me. This may be why it is a good thing that I don't work in a bookstore....I might end up killing some of these dolts.

[Department stores *sigh*]

i recently moved into the Major Home Fashion's department and GOD DO I HATE TEENAGERS NOW *ahem* ok most are fine but its the 8-12 yr old guys and the 10-15 yr old girls who think the beds we have are there for their using pleasure. i dont mind if they sit on one or two going 'ooo this is comfy' pretty much product testing, maybe get daddy to buy it for her/him and i get commision. but jesus......once i had a 10 yr old kid try and hump a bed as we told him to get off. yeah kid your cool....another batch of kids came in and started flopping down on the beds. i told em they can test them if they wanted but dont jump on them. they then start jumping on any so i kick them out. one actually called me an asshole as i was cleaning the bed because of her shoe stain! grrrrrrr.......

[Gopher]

I had an acquaintance who worked in a book shop (and possibly may well still do so) who was once asked by a "customer", yes I use the term loosely, whether the shop had a photocopier she could use!

[Amalthea]

I had an acquaintance who worked in a book shop (and possibly may well still do so) who was once asked by a "customer", yes I use the term loosely, whether the shop had a photocopier she could use!

No surprise there. I get that ALL the time. Usually I just say no, and mention the Kinkos across the street. But my manager usually mentions the copyright laws. Duh! Hey, I know, let's HELP you break the copyright law as well as steal from us by taking for pretty much free the part of the book you want and not actually buying it. That would be swell.

[Hraesvelg7]

I had an acquaintance who worked in a book shop (and possibly may well still do so) who was once asked by a "customer", yes I use the term loosely, whether the shop had a photocopier she could use!

Oh man, I get that question ALL the time and I hate it. Not only is it illegal due to copyright laws, it's just bad business to give away your product for free.
My old store was a block away from a college and had a nursing school in the same mall. The same people came in day after day, taking what they wanted from the books, and often taking the books themselves. They would harass customers to leave the cafe so they could use the tables. They brought their laptops and sometimes printers as well. Some of the lazier ones came prepared with cameras to take pictures of the pages they wanted, and a few even had portable scanners.
This was on top of the usual bookstore lurkers, the manga kids, psuedo-homeless, abandoned children/elderly, and porn hounds. The store closed after a few years of being in the red due to catering to these people. I often wonder what possesses people to behave like that in a bookstore. Would they bring a stove to the supermarket and start making dinner there, complaining if anyone tried to stop them?
On a side note, I do know that some of the regulars from that store would frequently call a nearby Circuit City to ask what movie was being played on the display tv's, so they could come watch on the nice comfy couches. So I guess they will go to some lengths to get what they can.