Weird Things Customers Say in Bookstores

by Jen Campbell

Thoughts: An absolutely hysterical, and kind of sad, compendium of quotes from real, live customers in real, live bookstores. Mostly taken from Jen Campbell's personal experience working in UK bookstores, but also from many examples sent in by other booksellers across North America.

You've got the simply funny, like the many items people somehow thought could be found in a bookstore, or the weird people looking for a portal to another dimension.

There's the actually kind of cool: "Customer: If I had a bookstore, I'd make the mystery section really hard to find." (pg. 20) It made want to design a really cool bookstore where every section was somehow themed.

There's the ones that make you despair of humanity's future, like the story of the person who had a tantrum over not being able to read Breaking Dawn (pg. 15), or the many examples of complete literary ignorance, or the mother who told her child, "I don't know why you read; it'll never get you anywhere" (pg. 54).

Some of it seemed so bad as to be actually unbelievable, but some I have experienced myself in my time in customer service, such as: "Customer: I read a book in the sixties. I don't remember the author, or the title. But it was green, and it made me laugh. Do you know which one I mean?" (pg. 57)

Summary: Short and sweet, and immensely entertaining.

Grade: 4 stars