Booksellers Share Their Absurd, Surreal Moments

Inspired by Shelf Awareness' "Notes From an ER Bookseller [1]," booksellers and former booksellers let off some steam this week, sharing their odd, aggravating, and all-too-common bookstore moments. Most used the Twitter hashtag #bookstorebingo [2] to mark their contributions, and the complete archive can be found by clicking that link. Some of the BTW staff's favorites (a few edited for clarity, since BTW has no 140-character limit) are below.

History Press USA [3]: "'Can you recommend a book? Something dark & creepy.' 'How about Crime & Punishment?' 'Nah. I don't really like Austen.'"

Amy Stewart, Eureka Books [4]: "'So people actually come in here and buy books?'"

Robert Sindelar, Third Place Books [5]: "From my first year as bookseller in 1990: 'Do you have Get Rich Overnight?' 'No, but I can get it for you.' 'Sorry, I can't wait.'"

Trish Brown, Hooray for Books! [6]: "Customer asked for The Onion in the Closet; wanted Indian in the Cupboard."

Emily Pullen, Skylight Books [7]: "Most commonly asked non-book-related question: Do you have a copy machine? 2nd most common: Do you sell stamps?"

Lanora Hurley, Next Chapter Bookshop [8]: "Had a customer demand to know where the 'body shop' was & dragged staff person outside to point at sign that reads 'bookshop'."

Rock City Books [9]: "Here's a fave for used circa-1970 paperbacks: 'Why are you charging 2.50 for this? The cover price is 75 cents.'"

Steve Fischer, NEIBA [10]: "Customer: 'I want that new paperback called #1 From Coast to Coast.'. Bookseller: silent stare."

Katherine Fergason, Bunch of Grapes [11]: "Found Iris Johansen's Tender Savage shelved as though it were written by someone named Tender Savage. *my new pen name*"

Liz Sullivan, sales rep [12]: "I once made a page on the store intercom for the customer looking for Who Farted. (Forget to say that was the title...)"

Jon Page, Pages & Pages [13]: "'I never like any of your books but you always play good in-store music.'"

Joe Foster, Maria's Bookshop [14]: "'Do you have Slipknot, Camel, Origami?' 'Eat, Pray, Love?' 'That's it!'"