Thoughts & Things

The Best Parts of Working in a Bookstore

I no longer work at a bookstore, but a couple years ago I was employed as the night staff at one of the locations of a major bookstore chain in my city. Of course, I worked when the library was closed, so I didn't work when customers were present. My entire job revolved around the actual books, and it was a pretty magical experience.

My primary task at work was to shelve the books. We would receive the pallets of the books and other non-book material in the back room. We would sort them out thoroughly. The odds and ends would be put onto large carts, which we would take out and arrange for display. The books would be sorted onto book carts, with each cart representing a different section of the bookstore, to make the shelving as quick and easy as possible.

Shelving the books was the best task, although sorting the books was a close second. As a lover of books, it brought me a great deal of joy to simply physically work with books. There were a lot of pluses to this job and these tasks, which is worth sharing with the world.

I got to see all of the books before they were shelved. This meant that I knew what was old, what was new, what hadn't even been released yet. I knew all of the popular authors, along with piles of obscure works. I got to see works that looked brilliant, and works that looked oddly laughable. I was actually exposed to what would become some of my favourite books by just shelving them.

I got to know exactly where everything was located in the store. I would come in during the day, and if I knew what I wanted, I could go straight for it. I was incredibly familiar with every aspect of the shelving and display systems, and that made it a breeze to find anything I was looking for.

I got a discount, and we had a borrowing system! I got all of the books in stock for 30% of the marketed price, which is a pretty solid deal that made my mass book shopping habit a lot more affordable. We also had a system where we could borrow books for a couple of weeks, as long as it was only one at a time, and we returned it in the condition that we borrowed it in.

There's something really special about having a job that revolves around your favourite thing. Shelving books is something I do at home because it brings me joy, so there is that special sort of novelty that comes with getting paid to do it. Of course there are downsides, but I'll leave those gems for next time.

(I have committed to blogging daily with Give It 100. This is Day Twenty-Four. One day of leave taken total.)