The Bookstore
I've only been working at my new job for a week, and I already hate it. Actually, I hated it the third day I was there, which was yesterday, a Saturday at 9:30 in the morning. I don't mind getting up early for work during the week, but during the weekend, is that really necessary?
The dagger in the heart is that my job is absolutely pointless. It's not really because otherwise they wouldn't be paying me to do it. But it is one of those jobs that is just menial labor. For me, it is purely mercenary. It has no growth opportunities, no fulfillment or satisfaction other than it pays. I work 8 hours a day putting books back on the shelves. I spend all day shifting rows, moving piles, straightening stacks of books in order to cram, shove, and fit the fresh ones back into their places. And there are enough books that it takes all day, usually, and it takes more than one person to do it in this section of the store. No matter how neatly I organize stacks, no matter how cleanly I fit them together, the shelves are just going to look the same tomorrow, and I'm going to have to put more back just like I did all day today.
This is, of course, the type of job that makes one go crazy. It's also basically the same thing I did when I worked at ShopKo, back when I was in high school. Since then, I've graduated both high school and college, and I still haven't graduated the job.
One of the things I cannot even believe is how many books there are. The section I patrol is the review section, which is all books that have been released in the past year or two, have undergone review from critics and such, and have been sold back to us for resale at half price to the customers. So, it's basically like getting a brand new book for half price. They are all hardcover. What is so difficult to believe, however, is the sheer volume of books we have in stock from A-Z according to author, and the vast subject matter pertaining to each book. Subjects that I would never even think to read about, and subjects that I would never even think there would be a book about. Books, I suppose, were the first form of consumable media, so it makes sense that they are everywhere and cover everything, but seriously, a 350-page composition about the life of Tom Cruise? He's not even dead, yet. He hasn't even done anything that important. He's just famous. So now I have to read a book about him? I go through all these books and sort them out, and I just think to myself, "can't these people just write an article? They have to write a whole book?"
No wonder nobody reads any more. I don't.
If I'm going to take the time to read a whole book and enjoy it, it better be good. Going through all the titles and authors and subjects also gets me thinking, "if they're willing to pump out this garbage by the masses, I could pretty much get away with writing anything." If you have one bad experience in your life, you could write a book about it. Or if you are friends with a famous person or pet or something, you could write a book about it. If you know how to cook anything, even if it's not any good, you could write a book about it. It makes me more interested in writing, which is why I sat down and wrote this. I need to keep it up with my thoughts.
Everyday, I think of a new topic to write about. So everyday, I need to sit down and write about it. Pretty soon I'll have my own book, and some kid in a bookstore will stuff it right between An Ordinary Man's 18 Months in Iraq and Get Single! Get Sexy! Get Sensitive!: The Importance of Being a Woman and Never Settling. I could only be so lucky.
The dagger in the heart is that my job is absolutely pointless. It's not really because otherwise they wouldn't be paying me to do it. But it is one of those jobs that is just menial labor. For me, it is purely mercenary. It has no growth opportunities, no fulfillment or satisfaction other than it pays. I work 8 hours a day putting books back on the shelves. I spend all day shifting rows, moving piles, straightening stacks of books in order to cram, shove, and fit the fresh ones back into their places. And there are enough books that it takes all day, usually, and it takes more than one person to do it in this section of the store. No matter how neatly I organize stacks, no matter how cleanly I fit them together, the shelves are just going to look the same tomorrow, and I'm going to have to put more back just like I did all day today.
This is, of course, the type of job that makes one go crazy. It's also basically the same thing I did when I worked at ShopKo, back when I was in high school. Since then, I've graduated both high school and college, and I still haven't graduated the job.
One of the things I cannot even believe is how many books there are. The section I patrol is the review section, which is all books that have been released in the past year or two, have undergone review from critics and such, and have been sold back to us for resale at half price to the customers. So, it's basically like getting a brand new book for half price. They are all hardcover. What is so difficult to believe, however, is the sheer volume of books we have in stock from A-Z according to author, and the vast subject matter pertaining to each book. Subjects that I would never even think to read about, and subjects that I would never even think there would be a book about. Books, I suppose, were the first form of consumable media, so it makes sense that they are everywhere and cover everything, but seriously, a 350-page composition about the life of Tom Cruise? He's not even dead, yet. He hasn't even done anything that important. He's just famous. So now I have to read a book about him? I go through all these books and sort them out, and I just think to myself, "can't these people just write an article? They have to write a whole book?"
No wonder nobody reads any more. I don't.
If I'm going to take the time to read a whole book and enjoy it, it better be good. Going through all the titles and authors and subjects also gets me thinking, "if they're willing to pump out this garbage by the masses, I could pretty much get away with writing anything." If you have one bad experience in your life, you could write a book about it. Or if you are friends with a famous person or pet or something, you could write a book about it. If you know how to cook anything, even if it's not any good, you could write a book about it. It makes me more interested in writing, which is why I sat down and wrote this. I need to keep it up with my thoughts.
Everyday, I think of a new topic to write about. So everyday, I need to sit down and write about it. Pretty soon I'll have my own book, and some kid in a bookstore will stuff it right between An Ordinary Man's 18 Months in Iraq and Get Single! Get Sexy! Get Sensitive!: The Importance of Being a Woman and Never Settling. I could only be so lucky.
posted by Leland J. Fischer at 10:24 PM
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