Working at a bookstore just got less boring (635 hits)
Category: NoneRating: 1.71 on 10 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by B Nizzo <itsinthecards82.at.yahoo.com> (View user info) at 2005-04-09 23:06:04 EDT
I work in a bookstore right outside of Saint Louis University. My job consists mainly of sitting in the basement of the building, answering the phone, and taking text book orders from the college students and giving the order forms to one of my bosses. Every now and then, I do get some interesting phone calls. Tuesday of last week, I was hit by two rather 'intriguing' calls. It all started when a distraught mother called. Her dipshit kid lost his physics book, and wanted to buy a new one without having to pay for it. The conversation from that point pretty much went as follows:
Distraught Mother: "We can't afford another book. We're strapped for cash as it is, sending (can't remember the kids name) to SLU."
Me: "Sorry ma'am. The store isn't liable for your son's inability to keep track of his textbooks."
I guess I should have chosen my words more carefully, because she interpreted what I said as an attack on her son's intelligence. Didn't mean it that way, but the damage was done, and she flipped, big time.
Distraught Mother: "How dare you! You don't know (whatever his name is)! Where do you get the nerve to call him stupid?!?!?"
Me, trying to reason with her: Please ma'am. I didn't mean it that way, I was just......."
Mother, rudely interrupting my explanation: "I hear you loud and clear. I want to talk to your manager!"
Lucky for me, my boss was listening from the other room. She was able to calm the bitch down. Unfortunately, that wasn't my worst call of the day. A man called no less than 1 hour later, and asked if we had some book for his accounting class. THIS conversation went as follows:
Me: "The computer says that your book isn't currently in stock."
Caller: "Could you go check the shelves?"
Me: "Sorry, our system is always up to date. If it isn't listed on my computer, it isn't upstairs. I'm sorry sir, but your textbook isn't in stock."
Caller: "Figures, you wouldn't go look for my book, cracka' ass racist!"
Hell no! He didn't just say that. An hour after a crazy lady said I called her son stupid (and I didn't) some guy called me racist because I didn't feel like getting up out of my chair. Lazy? Yes. Racist? I didn't think so, but according to him, I didn't look for his book because I hate black people. I tried rationalizing with him, only to find that he was, to say the least, irrational. When he spoke to my boss, things got worse. How could it get worse? Well, he told her that I called him a "spear-chucking monkey." That's how. My boss didn't even bother talking to him, and just hung up. I was then given instructions to simply hang up if he called back.
Fun day.
User Reviews
Submitted by HateFist (user info) at 2005-07-11 13:32:49 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by Confuzitron (user info) at 2005-04-30 01:00:18 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Hehe. Spear chucking monkey. I'ma use that one.
Submitted by CaptainThorns (user info) at 2005-04-11 11:12:51 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
bookstores are like a black hole for the inept
Submitted by B-Nizzo (user info) at 2005-04-10 11:01:59 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Feijuada, trust me. You don't want my job. You sit around doing nothing for 4 hours, then PEOPLE (God, I hate people) call and bother you. It gets annoying. And, every now and then, the boss'll come in and say "I need you to run the update for our tracking system." All-Right!!! Day ruined!!!
Submitted by Avals (user info) at 2005-04-10 07:54:23 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Haha! "Spear-chucking monkey." That's a good one, I like that.
Submitted by Feijuada (user info) at 2005-04-10 00:17:02 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
You make me want to work at a bookstore.
Submitted by G-prime (user info) at 2005-04-09 23:50:49 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
The reason you're not getting many reviews it because a) it's late saturday night, and most people have better things to do than sit around and uber (god I'm a nerd...) and b) the word bookstore was mentionned in your title. That will definitely turn away many readers.
Submitted by B-Nizzo (user info) at 2005-04-09 23:45:23 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Damn, 40 minutes and only one review? That sucks. Am I gonna have to do shameless hitwhoring?
Submitted by HadToBeDone (user info) at 2005-04-09 23:28:42 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Everyone knows it's only racism if you call him a spear-chucking jungle monkey.
Submitted by B-Nizzo (user info) at 2005-04-09 23:22:44 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Forgot to mention: The guy called back three times before he got the point.