Any time anybody has come up to talk to me, especially when it's some needy college girl coming up to me asking me what book im getting and probing me for other dumb shit she wont understand
It's not my worst, but I'll post about it anyways.
It was the summer of 2023. I went to the McKay's in Knoxville. I saw a woman in her late 20's to early 30's grabbing lots of books from the Modern Lit. section, just like me. I briefly considered approaching, but didn't because what would I say? >Haha you're just like me! I always grab so many books I struggle to carry them! That's why I always get a basket or cart.
There was also a good chance she was married considering her age. Oh well...
>some ugly chick kept talking to me >wasnt annoyed at her but myself for not being as socially adept and making it somewhat awkward
Any time anybody has come up to talk to me, especially when it's some needy college girl coming up to me asking me what book im getting and probing me for other dumb shit she wont understand
This happened to me when I was buying a Q’ran. I’d came in to buy a copy of the upanishads for a religious studies course I was doing at school (this was in bongland). The “religion” section was mostly new atheist stuff and didn’t have what I wanted but I felt bad about not buying anything.
>Q'ran
What's with the slow creeping take-over of the fricking letter Q fetishism in English Arabic translation? Back in my day it was just a Koran, because a "K" is a natural sound to an English speaker and a reasonable translation. Then later it turned into Quran and now it's fricking Q'ran? Give me a break.
One time in a nightclub I was told to leave the table because the women complained or something. I was talking just fine with one of them. How the frick am I supposed to meet women, then??
There was indeed a fat friend lol (maybe 2, it was a bit dark). They were owners of a sushi restaurant. I guess they eat a bit too well.
[...]
You guys are probably creeps and oblivious of the fact
Hello r*ddit.
1 month ago
Anonymous
>Hello r*ddit.
Cuckchanners acting like they're not Diet moronditors at this point kek. Get a better catchphrase troony.
1 month ago
Anonymous
Sounds like I hit a nerve kek
Reddit boy is upset
1 month ago
Anonymous
>Sounds like I hit a nerve kek
Please, the only thing you hit is the buffet, lardass. Now get some sleep. Your mother and I think you need to start looking for a job tomorrow.
1 month ago
Anonymous
You just talk to my mother, meanwhile I'm frickin yours.
1 month ago
Anonymous
Doesn't this retort feel not at least just a little bit pathetic to you, knowing that you're not actually fricking his mum?
1 month ago
Anonymous
How do you know, anyways?
1 month ago
Anonymous
Because I'm anon's mum
1 month ago
Anonymous
Post breasts then
1 month ago
Anonymous
>Sounds like I hit a nerve kek
Literal reddit response.
One time in a nightclub I was told to leave the table because the women complained or something. I was talking just fine with one of them. How the frick am I supposed to meet women, then??
You guys are probably creeps and oblivious of the fact
Last time I went to a chapters there was still a starbucks inside. They removed all the self-search kiosks though, you had to go to the front desk and ask them to search something
1 month ago
Anonymous
Both are gone in Alberta. They've been replacing the cafes with Good Earths but those have been in limbo for three years now.
1 month ago
Anonymous
Are you in Edmonton? there used to be (maybe still is) a used store on Jasper Ave I really liked. They had a cat, random assortment of western canon, and a ton of manga
1 month ago
Anonymous
No, I'm thankfully located in Calgary. I go north to visit family frequently, though. Do you remember the name of the bookstore?
There are a few I frequent here; there's a lovely shop near our military museum that's my favourite. I tend to only go to Chapters to pick up my mother's orders. I've stopped shopping with them since it took them 9 months to get my copy of Faust Part 1; they got the second part a week after the initial order was made. The staff refused to contact support or check when it was arriving because I hadn't gotten an email notifying me that the order was on its way.
1 month ago
Anonymous
I forgot to mention that after it came, they emailed me an apology along with a partial refund for 28 cents. I've saved it in my inactive account; spending that quarter would be an act of defeat.
1 month ago
Anonymous
I forgot to mention that after it came, they emailed me an apology along with a partial refund for 28 cents. I've saved it in my inactive account; spending that quarter would be an act of defeat.
Wee Book Inn (goggle confirmed it really quick. I was going to post a pic of their shop's bookmark but apparently I didn't save any though I know I used one for a while.)
If you bought a copy of Castro's semi-auto-biography, Blue Like Jazz, a Constance Garnett translation of Crime & Punishment, or any english volume of Tramps like Us or Love*Com, I also probably held it at some point.
1 month ago
Anonymous
Once upon a time I had a book mark of there's
1 month ago
Anonymous
the whyte location BTFOs the jasper one (which is a shame, because jasper is way easier to get to)
A lot of independent bookstores also sell coffee, it's a great business model.
Even some large retailers do too. Customers get the ambiance of the bookstore and still spend money, they might buy a book and the idiots can pretend they're intellectuals who spend times in coffee shops despite the fact that they haven't read a thing since highschool.
This was actually probably the best thing that I've ever seen at a book store but I'll share it anyways
>History section of big chain book store >Young guy is squatting down low to look at a book on the bottom shelf >I'm lingering because a boomer is standing right in front of the books I want to look at >Boomer shifts over to the young guys section >Basically standing directly over him >He lets out the loudest fart I've ever heard right in the guys face >Says nothing, we're not even there to him >Young guy immediately gets up and dips the frick out, makes eye contact with me and we both lose it >"I could feel the breeze" >Boomer grabs a copy of Vivek Ramaswamy's book "Nation of Victims" >Refuses to elaborate >Leaves
It's not my worst, but I'll post about it anyways.
It was the summer of 2023. I went to the McKay's in Knoxville. I saw a woman in her late 20's to early 30's grabbing lots of books from the Modern Lit. section, just like me. I briefly considered approaching, but didn't because what would I say? >Haha you're just like me! I always grab so many books I struggle to carry them! That's why I always get a basket or cart.
There was also a good chance she was married considering her age. Oh well...
On my first date with a lady I like, we went to an incredibly busy bookstore that sold new books. It was so busy that we could barely talk and had to constantly be on the move. However, afterwards we went to a used book store close by which was very nice, she even bought me a book.
When I was a kid my cousin and I were really into a young adult series and the new book had just came out and we were both excited to read it
Well we had visited out grandparents house and our grandmother had given us $20 for helping out in the garden and so we walked together to buy the new book, it was my first book I had ever bought with my own money
When my mother found out about she was furious, started shouting at me and telling me that I should have just borrowed it from the library or borrowed my cousin's copy and forced me to go to the bookstore and to ask for a refund
>be me, living in portland during college >go to small bookstore >cute and cramped, very cozy >looking for econ books >cannot find any econ books >ask cashier if there are econ books >she says they probably dont have that sort of thing >ask if theres a politics section since they might have ended up there >she says theres not a politics section but something similar >leads me to a corner, there is a "Radical Solutions" section >entirely wokeshit NYT type books, marx and kropotkin
i literally just left after seeing that. i think it was Belmont Books but I could be wrong.
btw Mother Foucault's is the best bookstore in portland, not powells
>go to Indigo (Canadian version of Barnes and Noble) at the local mal >philosphy section >100 books about "thinking like a stoic" >sam harris >stephen pinker >turn 360 degrees and walk out
The only worthwhile section at Indigo is their reduced section. You can find cheap editions of public domain books and hardcovers of non-fiction that didn't sell well for $10 or less. The other thing is using their computer kiosks to print out the titles of books you find interesting and want to look for elsewhere.
Well, I have not ventured in a book store to actually, well, shop for books in a long while. The last time I went was to sign some legal documents and the time before was at a used book store and I was the only person there (it was comfy).
Do you mind if today's story of me at the local library counts: >Chatting up with librarians. >This big goth troony whale comes from the back room where the books are sorted. >Turns out she is an intern. >FRICK MY LIFE, THAT IS THE SECOND troony WHO HAS POWER OVER ME, GOD, CAN SOMEBODY HELP ME.
Hey, I get my copies for $1.00 or less usually, so it is cheap enough.
Their history section is worse. A quarter is nothing but race in America, a quarter WW2, a quarter dedicated exclusively to the Holocaust and the rest of history is smashed into the final quarter.
I went into a bookstore that was one of the big franchised ones looking for a copy of Notes from the underground that didn't have a frick ugly cover. I wasn't expecting much and it wasn't there. Because I am autistic I didn't notice that I had walked into the middle of a book signing for the author Matthew Reilly. It was at the end of the day and he was sitting there at his desk looking tired. I walked past him and said "hey I loved your books when I was a teen, thanks for helping me pass the time". I didn't realise at the time that what I said was offensive and couldn't understand his dejected, slightly sad look when I said it. He didn't reply. I still feel bad when I think that I might have hurt his feelings.
>I didn't realise at the time that what I said was offensive
very relatable
How was what he said offensive? Do teen authors, children's authors, and YA authors really expect people to keep reading their age-graded shit until they die? All that guy said was, "Hey, when I was your target demographic, I really enjoyed your books!" How is that offensive?
I think the phrase "helping me pass the time" was the more painful part: it sounds like he only read it to escape boredom. I guess if I was a YA author I'd hope that my books would install a passion for reading or that people would develop a love for the world and characters I created (like Harry Potter managed), but comments like this suggest otherwise.
On the other hand, if anon is really autistic, maybe he completely misread Reilly's facial expression.
i think the issue is with the second half of what he said
when you do something to "pass the time," it means you do it because you have some time available, not because you really want to do it. it's like he only read his books because he had nothing better to do, it was just a time killer. that makes his compliment sound insincere
>head to counter with a copy of Critique of Pure Reason >bump into someone as I'm walking >drop the book >go to pick it up but my trousers rip >'I guess you kant pick it up' >start blushing & leave the book on the floor & hurry to the exit >realize I need to buy something so I buy a get well soon card at the counter & run for the door
I can't think of any bad bookstore expirence besides the bookstore being kinda shit once.
Every time I've been in the bookstore I just look at books and maybe buy one
>visit a small used bookstore >the clerk keeps constantly staring at me in complete silence >scowls at me in disapproval as i make my purchase (Wild Palms by Faulkner) >feel his eyes burning into my back as i leave the store
>Teenager, age 16. >Waiting for my girlfriend to finish her tutoring lesson at a shopping district. >Broke, mainly got by with pirated PDFs and the school library. >Do the usual stroll through Indigo's fiction aisles. >After a few laps, I decided that I'd use my limited funds available to purchase Houellebecq's Platform. >Walk to the cashier triumphantly rocking ripped jeans, a Current 93 tee, a shredded flannel, and a water-logged skateboard. >Placed the book gently on the till. >As I took my wallet out of my barely intact flannel pocket, the ancient cashier looked me directly in the eyes and creaked out, "you don't look like you can read". >"Ahh I ummm I uhhh I" >Picked up the novel without paying, sprinting out of the store like a mouse in the pantry.
I ended up heading back a few years later with a resume and the same prehistoric cashier was decaying behind the till.
About last Summer, I went into a charity bookstore without the intention on buying anything, but just to see what kind of selection they had and as I'm looking through their classics section, I overhear a customer at the till asking the store assistant whether they have a copy of Animal Farm. Behind the till is a man who looks a bit nerdy and in his early 40's. He tells the woman that he'll check downstairs and then starts to move. Just before he leaves the room, he turns back to the customer and says,
Reminds of the time I bought some books at an antique store. The lady at the counter read out the titles and their prices to confirm them with me. One of the books I was buying was The Complete Works of Rabelais. She pronounced Rabelais as "rebellious". I said nothing and nodded to confirm I was indeed purchasing The Complete Works of Rebellious for $4.
Damn I worked at Strand for years. Can tell this is an old photo because there's cookbooks next to the info desk, we changed those to comic books now, cookbooks are upstairs. It was actually a fun job
There aren't any small bookstores near where I live. My college has a campus bookstore and if I shop somewhere else it's a Barnes and Nobles. Other than my school's bookstore trying to rip me off with absurd prices, I've never had a bad experience at a bookstore.
>Want to reread Pickwick Papers >kinda want to own it because it's such a comfy book >work at uni, so decide to just print the whole book on their printer and put it in a binder >split it up in 100 page sections do it over the course of a week >they somehow find out and I get fired for theft, they threaten to press charges but don't
>Go look at the politics section (Spain) of a big spanish bookstore franchise >Be surprised to find Jose Antonio Primo de Rivera's complete works (I'm not a falangist but nonetheless I found it interesting to read) > Bald literal basedjack like picrel, an exact fricking copy of picrel in real life, comes as fast as it can > "Oh is that Jose Antonio? Well I don't know what interest that might have besides the laughs, you know, like (motherfricker inserts a center-right spanish politician as if suggesting he's a falangist, mind you, a center right politician who has passed more progressive pro-lgtbq laws than the left) no one better than that one for humor right? > I still find it interesting tho and don't get intimidated, go upstairs and sit on a coach they have there to read a little bit > After a few minutes he goes upstairs and comes as fast as he can to my coach to find me reading Jose Antonio's complete works > SO YOU ACTUALLY TOOK THE BOOK SERIOUSLY?! he said indignantly, then went down as fast as he came up >Some time later I went to the same bookstore to get Hegel's enciclopedia of philosophical sciences >The book is nowhere to be found >As I walk around the bookstore every single shopkeeper give me killer stares and look at me with disgust >Hegel is nowhere to be found >Ask around to the shopkeepers, they avoid me like the plague >Only option left is the basedjak shopkeeper >Ask him where can I find the encyclopedia >He searches around, tells me they had none of that >He's really exhalted, nervous and passive agressive this time >Tell him to search on the place's computer >Turns out they moved it from the Philosophy section to the "history of philosophy" and thought it was a manual of history of philosophy due to the title >He angrily goes for a ladder, get's to the correct library while I follow around, and grabs the book >As he hands it over to me, he says with an air of superiority "This book teaches about history of philosophy" >I answer "well, it actually lays down Hegel's system I believe" > "N-no, it's about HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY". >Everytime I go to the same bookstore he starts walking around me and squacking angrily, which just happens to motivate me to go more times there.
This is hilarious. You pissed off a redditor by reading a book he politically disagreed with and then he turned the entire staff against you. And now he tried to one up you every chance he gets. Lmao, I will never understand people like that.
>the state of Spain
You have to buy a book on catalan feminism and a novel about lesbian vegan girl from Barcelona falling for a Moroccan girl so the shopkeepers will accept you.
>be South African (braai tribe) >very fond memories of the bookstore at the cape town waterfront mall >books are expensive in south africa, and it's hard to find a big selection, but this place was worth it >big store for a mall, lots of light, windows at the back looking at the sea >picked up my first ever book of philosophy there (Russell, but it was a good start) >when I was a teenager I went in to ask for Atlas Shrugged, and a qt blonde attendant gets excited and brings me to the shelf >"I'm so happy to see someone else reading this!" >found Rian Malan, first step to understanding the real history of south africa >stumble on Lacan's Seminar VII in college, my first Lacan >many other memories of finding books that made a big impact there >go back after covid >store is half the size, half is now a restaurant next door >everything painted dark, no more natural light or sea view >first three shelves by the door are labeled "Big on BookTok" >tables are full of tourist crap about africa and other crap for middle-aged white women >no attendants, cashiers look sullen and overworked >go to philosophy section >it's almost all self-help crap. I count the books. >four books of actual philosophy >Meditations >two mis-titled books of extracts from Aristotle ("How to Live A Good Life" or some shit like that) >one lonely volume of Spinoza iirc >real sadness hits me, feel like I've lost part of my childhood >gnaws at me all day in a way I don't usually feel >spend the evening drinking beers by the sea and reading Kantorowicz
I know most things from childhood go away, and everything falls apart eventually if you're South African, but it didn't have to be like this. I wish the place had just closed instead of becoming a shell of itself for booktokers and tourists.
>early 2010s >go to bookstore looking for something by Zora Neale Hurston >start searching the fiction bookshelves >quickly realize the fiction is sorted by first name for some moronic reason >z is on the bottom, have to get on my knees >there's a gap in the books and on the other aisle I see bare feet and notice weird laughing noises >grab my book and take a peek around the other >dan Schneider tickling and filming Ariana Grande's feet >gnaws at me all day in a way I don't usually feel >spend the evening drinking beers by the sea and reading Kantorowicz
I can't remember any bad experiences at bookstores, those are pretty positive places, but I went to the Texas Book Festival one year, and it's one of these events where authors give talks and sell their books. I checked in one panel by several authors who had written books about the Mexican drug war, and right before asking a question during the Q&A a local activist type stormed the tent, and she started hectoring them "bluhhh!!!!! The Texas Book Festival discriminates against people of color!!!! There are too many white authors and not enough Hispanics!!!! We read books too! I demand you react to me right now ayeeee!@!!1"
All the authors on the panel were Hispanic btw and spoke Spanish including a Mexican-American reporter who lived in Mexico. And they just played it off and one said that Hispanic people don't read books... they write them! Referring to themselves. Then she left.
>hometown for holidays >swing by B&N >store is a mess >loud fat manager yelling across floor to coworker about dating gossip >roam around, nothing of interest >check out bookmark stand, all chinkcrap >as I turn away fat manager beelines to bookmarks >glares at me the whole time >sifts through stand then stares daggers at me and shouts >"We need to do better LP on bookmarks Sandra, SOMEONE'S been stealing them again" >all the while giving me the evil eye >was wearing a tailored jacket, collared white shirt, slacks and leather loafers >meanwhile she ignores the homeless looking hispanic muttering to himself while pacing the children's section >went back a year later >she is still there >fatter >louder >angrier
Once when I was a teen I went to see RA Salvatore do a talk and signing, and the fricking c**ts of Indigo staff had anyone without the newest book get their autograph last. So I had to wait at least 40 minutes in line to get my anthology signed, and several times I was about to get my book signed a fricking c**ty Indigo employee would be like "OOP THERE'S A FEW MORE PEOPLE HERE WAITING FOR YOUR AUTOGRAPH" and bump me and the few other people without the newest book specifically got bumped back down the queue. Fricking c**ts.
In Germany we got a big bookstore, called Wittwer-Thalia. One time I went there to buy my sister a present and saw that they got an entire section just with pride flags and pride accessories + an entire shelf with gay books.
And then I went to someone working there in order to ask if they have a certain book and, guess what, it's a troony.
One floor above, they got a bunch of books about smug brown people writing books with titles like
> wallah Germany, we have to talk > the white blemish > what white people can do now
>live in london >see bookshop >walk in, it's a trendy coffee shop masquarading as a bookshop >no classics, all they sell is books about white supremacy, pop-science, pop-political slop laregly written by black people.
This is basically every bookshop now. Liberalism killed literature and they still like to gloat it over us IQfyizens.
>take my niece to a large non chain bookstore in Columbus, Ohio >she’s got to use the bathroom >there’s only one unisex toilet >decide to do a quick inspection/clean up job before she uses it >copy of The Tom of Finland Omnibus sitting on the floor >piss and jizz all over the toilet seat >tell a cashier and take niece across the street to a restaurant so she can use a clean toilet >return to the bookstore an hour later >the toilet is untouched
Yes, it fricking happened. And I’m a colossal homosexual myself, so I don’t have anything against homosexuals. It’s probably why I’m stuck watching my niece all the time. The store was the Book Loft in German Village in case you’re interested/an Ohioan.
>Book Loft
Glad to see some Columbus anons, the store always has either overpriced books or slightly underpriced books which is what got me to go there as many time as I have. Also it's great for my normie friends to look for their shit while I look at cheapo Dover Thrift Editions. Columbus is more of a used book store city, thankfully. Just have to know where to look.
1 month ago
Anonymous
A professor recommended I check out Karen Wycliffe's (or however you spell it) books. This was post pandemic and she was only doing 30 minute scheduled appointments, double masking required. That turned me off and I've never been. Otherwise that store seems like a good place to find some niche, forgotten, and odd books.
1 month ago
Anonymous
Blessed trips. That place has a great selection, only went there once a year or so ago and I don't think they've got the mask policy or the appointments anymore from what I remember. Pretty decent prices too, like a better Half-Priced Books. God, I miss Half-Priced Books while I've been living in Babylon.
1 month ago
Anonymous
I'll peruse it this weekend then, assuming she's open on weekends.
>Book Loft
Glad to see some Columbus anons, the store always has either overpriced books or slightly underpriced books which is what got me to go there as many time as I have. Also it's great for my normie friends to look for their shit while I look at cheapo Dover Thrift Editions. Columbus is more of a used book store city, thankfully. Just have to know where to look.
Thanks, I guess. I’m in Youngstown.
Howdy boys, Akron area here. The scene here is...meh
>The Book Loft
I've never been there, but from what I can tell it looks like it's basically a front for BLM shit. I have doubts about the quality of the books they sell, and I assume everything is overpriced.
>The Book Loft
I've never been there, but from what I can tell it looks like it's basically a front for BLM shit. I have doubts about the quality of the books they sell, and I assume everything is overpriced.
It is extremely overrated. I had to stop in and buy an emergency copy of Escape From Freedom (I do not care that hes a Frankfurt schooler, the book is great) and it is a pop-shop masquerading as an old book store. Really, the only thing worthwhile around there is Katzingers. The Half Price Books tend to be pretty good in the area.
>emergency copy of Escape from Freedom
lel, from the way you worded that it sounds like you had so much freedom it was about to kill you and you needed to be rid of it immediately
my childhood mall used to have a WaldenBooks
I went in once to get a Chuck Klosterman collection because I was going through a phase where I thought if I read pretentious opinion pieces by homosexual New Yorkers, I'd be perceived as more cool
book was like $25, and this was in like 2006 so it was stupid expensive
checked amazon later and it was $12
frick Walden Books I'm glad you went bankrupt, and frick Chuck Klosterman you're a pompous prick
it might have been 2007-08, I just remember the book came out late 2006 and I had waited a bit to not get hit by new release pricing
Amazon was indeed used in 2006, I used to buy used cds through them for dirt cheap
the used book section on Amazon used to be an absolute goldmine in 2006-2008, I picked up a bunch of Stephen King first editions like IT and The Bachman Books for next to nothing compared to what eBay sellers wanted
>mostly buy books online >go to city's annual book fair >many spurges there literally pushing piles of books into their trolleys so they can go sift through what they want afterwards
Prices there are really good and you often find some really decent OoP fantasy so I just put up with it. Only bookshop I go to regularly is a genre-fiction specialist bookshop in my city, the owner and his wife are chill and have given me genuinely good recommendations before. Their prices are outrageous though, compared to online. They charge more than it costs to get the book online and them have it shipped to australia but I don't mind splurging every 6 months or so because book shops especially niche shops like that are so rare here. I also go to the local """""esoteric""""" bookshop from time to time and will pick up some cheap schizoshit by a local author for a laugh.
>Looking at classics section >Girl comes up >Ou echo lalein barbaristi, o neania, alla monon Hellenisti. En alethei, proseimi humin zeton ton didaskalon mou, onoma Chrusippon. Dia tes gar kaloumenes chrones mechanes, prosesti kai autos humin. Eipe moi, exeis ti peri autou e enetunchanas autoi? >"Umm..ok?" she walks off confused
It's probably because it's not modern greek and online translators only translate modern greek. Find an ancient greek translator. I'm not that anon, so it may not be ancient greek.
It's probably because it's not modern greek and online translators only translate modern greek. Find an ancient greek translator. I'm not that anon, so it may not be ancient greek.
Translation? >Where do you come from, barbarian, or from Athens only? In truth, I am prepared to teach you, my teacher's name is Chrysippus. For he has just arrived after a long absence, he is also at your service. Tell me, do you have anything to say about him or have you met him personally?
[...]
Translation? >Where do you come from, barbarian, or from Athens only? In truth, I am prepared to teach you, my teacher's name is Chrysippus. For he has just arrived after a long absence, he is also at your service. Tell me, do you have anything to say about him or have you met him personally?
It says: I'm not able to speak barbarian, woman (meant to say neanis), but only Greek. In truth, I'm with you (pl.) seeking my teacher, his name's Chrusippon. For because of the so-called time machine, he himself is here with you (pl.) also. Tell me, do you know anything about him, or have you stumbled upon him?
Yeah...my greentext is more accurate than that garbled shit you wrote. Hit the books some more kiddo. Also, your amateur translations of some untranslated Greek works are definitely garbled garbage like your post.
>want a copy of hunger by Knut Hamsun >bookshop which is normally quite willing to order in obscure books >”sorry it’s a limited run translation” we don’t have any in stock and can’t order it in
It wasn’t. I’ve just checked their website and they have the paperback in stock. I’m convinced that the sort of people who work in Waterstones will try to disrupt a sale with a “problematic” enough author. It obviously isn’t a company policy but I genuinely believe the type that they hire would be willing to do this informally.
Yes. Lots of wagies enjoy getting petty victory over customers. I have no doubt the clerk vaguely knew Hamsun was somewhat associated with Nazis and decided to deny the sale of the book. For the wagie it was a petty victory: "Heh, take that you heckin fascist! You won't be reading Nazi shit on my watch!"
Here are some specimens I’ve encountered in waterstones:
1. Woman who literally looks like the libleft woman from the politics compass memes but without the dyed hair. Seemed annoyed I came to the counter when she was chatting with her coworker. She was somewhat standoffish for no reason. This was in Hexham.
2. Greying/balding man who seemed down in the dumps. Felt bad for him. He could be really nice or really bitter. This was in Gateshead.
3. Landwhale of a man with a beard who wore a ring in the shape of a corvid skull. Not strongfat btw just fat. I got an “ooh er” from him when I asked for a copy of “The Sailor who Fell from Grace with the Sea.” Seemed uncomfortable with me asking for the book. This was in Gateshead.
4. A women who was very perky and talked to customers about the books. She gave recommendations and seemed nice. I mention her because they had her working in the literal cellar instead of on the floors with lots of customers and the new books they want to shill. This was in the Newcastle upon Tyne store in front of Greys monument. They have cellar open to the public where they keep their sci-fi and fantasy books.
1-3 are exactly the types who have a good chance of caring about petty stuff. It gives them a sense of importance and for 1 and 3 they might think they’re fighting le ebil heckin fascerino in their head. 4’s situation is proof of what types like 1-3 are like. You know how in schools kids will bully eachother over petty stuff like hairstyles, glasses and
I asked my local book retailer to order The Diary of a Rapist and they did without a second glance. You need to change stores.
who has air force one trainers? It’s a bit like that. It gives them a sense of agency that wagies don’t get at work and they can’t enjoy at home because they don’t have any real hobbies.
Yes. Lots of wagies enjoy getting petty victory over customers. I have no doubt the clerk vaguely knew Hamsun was somewhat associated with Nazis and decided to deny the sale of the book. For the wagie it was a petty victory: "Heh, take that you heckin fascist! You won't be reading Nazi shit on my watch!"
This
I worked in a waterstones for a few years and outside of the manager none of the other staff had any knowledge of literature outside of Harry Potter. Unless you just so happened to be in the most wellread waterstones in the entire UK, I'd just assume the cashier made a mistake.
I once was looking for a specific trnaslation of The Trial by Kafka and the girl behind the counter was taking forever to check, and physically struggling to understand what I was trying to tell her. I wouldn't assume it was anything but her moronation that led to this mishap.
Which part of the UK are you in? I’m in Northumberland but I sometimes shop in Tyne and Wear. I read on some forums that they expect employees to be well read. Does everyone just lie on their application? I have aspergers and only recently found out how common it is to lie on an application.
I asked my local book retailer to order The Diary of a Rapist and they did without a second glance. You need to change stores.
That is a liberal book that is a written by a liberal-managerial new deal type author. His other books are also (shocker) about how liberal-managerial types and how le heckin bourgeoise lifestyle and le heckin bourgeoise marriage are banal and lifeless in his view. The wagie doesn’t know this of course but they have a notion diary of a rapist is somehow progressive and will at least implicitly engage in goodthink. The book does this without even having to be read. It implicitly condems the rapist just by having the title “diary of a rapist.” It relies on the reader knowing rape is bad to draw in attention so the wagie can go through the thought process described above without actually even reading the novel. They probably did so as you asked for the book. Hamsun doesn’t do this.
>Which part of the UK are you in?
South East London, worked for a huge comfy Waterstones in a big shopping centre. I can't speak for every Waterstones, but the manager seemed genuinely impressed with my surface level knowledge of lit. I think I was reading Hunger as well, funnily enough, as I was going through my "deep phase". Might be wrong about that, though.
And as I said, at this point I was 17/18 and had no real knowledge on literature. I had only come across Celine and Hamsun due to Bukowksi often mentioning them. I also pretended to have read the Satyricon as well, which she was also very impressed by. If the management was so impressed by a pseud like me it really makes you wonder what the other staff were digesting. Especially as the normie definition of wellread is reading thriller slop.
Although I do concur, I likely worked at one of the nicest Waterstones in the country. It was incredibly comfy and had a huge selection of books. The sci-fi section had a huge painting of Cthullu across the wall. Can't find a picture of it online and I don't live anywhere near that shop anymore but it was probably top of the barrel Waterstones. A lot of the other Waterstones I've been to are bland and pander towards liberal ideologies.
1 month ago
Anonymous
Sounds nice. I get what you mean about normie standards being low. I’m not very well read either but everyone seems to think I am whenever I mention a book at uni (I’m doing a history degree btw not something where you’re not expected to read much) because none of them will have read it. E.g. we were talking about HOI4 and I mentioned the 1984 mod and all I got was “what’s 1984.” Also for the but in fascism the seminar leader seamed surprised/concerned I’d flicked through primary sources like Codex Fascismo and 100 questions. Standards are so low it’s insane (I’m not a fascist btw I’m an ancap).
Tbh I sort of prefer Blackwells over Waterstones because it’s literally just a series of books on plain white shelves. They’re just there and are presented as is without ostentatious stuff around them like Waterstones. Also it was in blackwells that my grandmother first found out what manga is and that was quite amusing. I get the appeal of sitting in the cafes in Waterstones and reading but I’ve only done that with family members with books I already own.
[...]
Also, I should've noted, this was 2017, way before the political climate began to infect wagie workspaces. So I'm speaking of a time that's far removed from the current, post-covid moronation we live in now. I don't think it's unfair to say that liberals have began to weaponise literature against negative-thinkers ever since all those Black riots took place in 2020.
Being wellread by modern standards probably means you've read all the pop-race sociology books every big bookseller shills to you
This. I will not be surprised if “Settlers” is on the reading list next year. Ed Dutton did quite a good video on pop-sci race books and how they rely on fallacious/bad faith arguments. I think the amount of people who actually read these books will be quite few. It’s about legitimising the ideology (look, it’s in a book) and showing dominance. A bit like how millions of copies of Mein Kampf and the Little Red Book were printed with few people actually reading them. In the USSR people actually bought tons of communist literature so they could hand it in at a recycling drive to get a voucher for a rare book that they actually wanted to read. If you did this too often the authorities caught on and you got into trouble. It’s not the contents of the book that matter it’s enshrining the ideology a something sacred; a dogma that can’t be questioned. Using the books as a means to an end and destroying them in doing so you commit a sacrilege against the dogma. Leftists academics might read them but even they will heavily skim. This is why the book can be utter hokum but it’s still produced: It’s not meant to be used as a book but as a talisman or a good luck charm to enforce the belief. I’m thinking about converting the Catholicism. One Catholic I met has a collection of many rosaries and I think this is a version of that.
1 month ago
Anonymous
>Zoomers don't know what 1984 is
Somewhat shocking, but understandable since Bongland is more cucked than America in its attempts to decolonize its required reading in schools. No doubt 1984 was removed and replaced with trash like The Hate U Give. Nothing says DYSTOPIA more than a novel about how Cops are literally hunting down black people in the street...because...BECAUSE THEY JUST ARE OK!?
1 month ago
Anonymous
Actually I’m pretty sure the hate you give was recommended on some monthly book thing in the library when I was in school. 1984 wasn’t on the curriculum but Benjamin Zephaniah was
>Which part of the UK are you in?
South East London, worked for a huge comfy Waterstones in a big shopping centre. I can't speak for every Waterstones, but the manager seemed genuinely impressed with my surface level knowledge of lit. I think I was reading Hunger as well, funnily enough, as I was going through my "deep phase". Might be wrong about that, though.
And as I said, at this point I was 17/18 and had no real knowledge on literature. I had only come across Celine and Hamsun due to Bukowksi often mentioning them. I also pretended to have read the Satyricon as well, which she was also very impressed by. If the management was so impressed by a pseud like me it really makes you wonder what the other staff were digesting. Especially as the normie definition of wellread is reading thriller slop.
Although I do concur, I likely worked at one of the nicest Waterstones in the country. It was incredibly comfy and had a huge selection of books. The sci-fi section had a huge painting of Cthullu across the wall. Can't find a picture of it online and I don't live anywhere near that shop anymore but it was probably top of the barrel Waterstones. A lot of the other Waterstones I've been to are bland and pander towards liberal ideologies.
Also, I should've noted, this was 2017, way before the political climate began to infect wagie workspaces. So I'm speaking of a time that's far removed from the current, post-covid moronation we live in now. I don't think it's unfair to say that liberals have began to weaponise literature against negative-thinkers ever since all those Black riots took place in 2020.
Being wellread by modern standards probably means you've read all the pop-race sociology books every big bookseller shills to you
I worked in a waterstones for a few years and outside of the manager none of the other staff had any knowledge of literature outside of Harry Potter. Unless you just so happened to be in the most wellread waterstones in the entire UK, I'd just assume the cashier made a mistake.
I once was looking for a specific trnaslation of The Trial by Kafka and the girl behind the counter was taking forever to check, and physically struggling to understand what I was trying to tell her. I wouldn't assume it was anything but her moronation that led to this mishap.
Yeah, most people aren’t going to know who Hamsun and Mishima are, and even if they do, they are thoroughly mainstream writers. No employee is giving you dirty looks or sabotaging your quest for Hamsun
>on date with girl >we go to a used bookstore >I joke that I want to ask where the philosophy section is, but don't want to be 'that guy' >she insists on asking for me, even after I repeatedly beg her not to
No second date. I still think about her occasionally though.
>I'm a grown man. I don't need to be mothered.
My gf is younger than me and mothers me sometimes, it's nice.
1 month ago
Anonymous
That sounds nice. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't be opposed that kind of thing on occasion, but I also don't want to be the type of person that can't function on his own.
>she insists on asking for me, even after I repeatedly beg her not to
Sounds like you let a good one go. obnoxious pretentious weirdos are hard to find
It's so fricking grim where I live. New stores filled to the brim with NYTBS garbage, used stores are dumping grounds for Stephen King and romance novels for bored housewives. A few weeks ago I tried driving around all day to see if any place had decent books in languages other than English but the best I could find were dictionaries and crash course books on par with something you might give a WW2 soldier. That and the convenience and sheer availability of stuff on the net has completely killed physical shopping for me.
>small old used bookstore by where I live >has plenty of hidden gems and variety >run by an old man, Sicilian anthropologist who studied at La Sorbonne and NYU >shop was originally ran by a friend of his, who died >one day the shop doesn't open again >months pass >the clear out every book and remodel the place >there's a trendy hipster bar there now
Books for this feel?
I hate public restrooms. It's always a no man's land & wild West combined, especially if there is only one toilet, one sink and one urinal. The amount of times I've almost had fights over the duckfricking restroom, had the police called on me, had people body tackling the fricking door, had shouting at me through walls, you would think that the public restroom is the most turbulent place in all of society. In fact, I'd bet that the next world war is actually going to be because one guy couldn't use the restroom at the NATO meeting, then swore a vendetta under the facade of international politics.
Where the frick do you live? And what places are these restrooms at? Jesus.
>In fact, I'd bet that the next world war is actually going to be because one guy couldn't use the restroom at the NATO meeting, then swore a vendetta under the facade of international politics.
In my country the public bathrooms in train stations used to have blue lighting so heroin junkies wouldn't be able to find their veins and shoot up in there. Now they've closed public bathrooms in most locations and only have a few paid ones here and there.
I was in South Korea a few months ago and they had public bathrooms everywhere. All of them were free and completely clean. Really made me feel ashamed for my own degenerate country where we can't have nice things without certain "people" destroying them.
I work in a bookstore and I have to suffer through all you aspergers chuds buying Meditiations, Robert Green, 12 Rules for Life and Fear And Loathing in Las Vegas all the time
Although you're still better than all the old decrepit weirdos
I feel that. Most of the people who came into the store I worked at were 30 somethings looking for YA books, Christians looking for Joel Osteen, women looking for a book called #Girlboss in the business section, etc. Had a few cool people though. One guy and I had a good conversation about Mandarin and Latin.
A while ago I went to a book store (La Casa del Libro) to see if they had a book that a friend had recommended. The book was a breakdown of The Communist Manifesto and a critique of it (picrel is the two parts of the book). They didn't have it in the store, so they offered to order it in for me. I assumed it would take about a week to get here. Fast forward 2 months, the book finally arrives. I was a bit pissed off because of how long it took, but i bought it anyways. A week after that, Find the same book in a different bookstore, and way cheaper. Never going back to La Casa del Libro.
La Casa del Libro sometimes seems to hire the worst kind of shopkeepers possible. I remember once I asked for Marx's Capital (adbridged antology) and the shopkeeper got arrogant asking what tome I was asking for, clarifying me that "it is actually three tomes" in a dismissive way, while I told him time and time again that I was searching for the adbridged antology (pic-rel). Some of them often behave like that for no actual reason but to "assert themselves" over the clients.
As I said, i stopped going there. Their book selection in the store was pretty bad, they kept moving the sections around and the employees are mostly horrible. Now I go to a local bookstore which is fantastic. The owner is an old guy with almost photographic memory who knows all the books they have in the store. The other people who work there are really friendly and always helpful. Also, the store looks like an actual book store, not like La Casa del Libro, that looks like an Apple store.
>go to bookstore >takes forever to find book >line is long as shit >put book back on shelf >be in my comfortable bed >open app >find book within seconds >Buy Now >is on my front doorstep in two days
Why even go to bookstore anymore?
Last time I went to a physical location to get a GPU, I saw some couple get the same exact GPU from another employee. The dude helping me comes back says someone else took it, yea motherfricker I see it right in front of me, and offers an inferior product. I almost bought it but instead walked out vowing to never purchase anything physically again except for groceries.
>small private bookstore in my hometown >buying some ernest hemmingway >cashier piles the recommended books at me >tells me about how one particular one was written by a israeli concentration camp survivor >"if you have time to read a small book (the old man and the sea) you have time to read these" >get pissed >tell her I despise israelites >tells me to leave >i do, without my books
in hindsight this was simultaneously the most cringe edge lord and ballsiest moment of my life so far.
the mask dropped that day for a split second but I never got any repercussions from it.
Upon opening the door, a musty or mildew smell wafted out. The first thing I see is a narrow aisle with books stacked to the ceiling. Next a man comes slowly toward me and I say "how are you doing?" And he replies "what are you looking for?" Me "oh I'm just looking, we were driving by and saw the place and wanted to check it out" to which he says "we're only open for business NOT looking"
This is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. I promptly left, never to return
This is that Northeastern bookstore run by the curmudgeon, where you have to pay a door $15 entrance fee (non-refundable, but can be applied to purchases). I remember those threads.
We walked in and were mesmerized by all the books and narrow aisles...UNTIL a stocky rotund bald man came creeping out from between the stacks to inform us of a "$5 entry fee". I laughed because I thought he was kidding. He wasn't.
Shocked and confused we said "forget it" and started to leave. As we were on our way out the door he snidely remarked "There's a library downtown". What a jerk. And what a nerve to advertise as a book store and then expect people to pay $5 to look around.
The book part itself didn't creep me out too much. I thought it was pretty cool that he had all those books and didn't charge me the $5 fee for browsing. I left immediately after getting to the porn in the back and realizing that the owner, a rude, bald man, had written descriptions on the price tags of what each porn movie was about and if it was "good" or not. Including writing what the body parts of the porn stars like.
I worked at a Barnes and Noble for a few years. Ours was located in our city's only thriving mall, and we saw a truly absurd amount of traffic for a brick-and-mortar bookstore. Most of the customers were your usual mall-types, mostly suburban housewives, teens, and the elderly.
But we also got our fair share of homeless people coming in, usually to take shelter from the weather or find a corner to curl up in for a bit. Nobody really cared, since most of them just wanted to be left alone. Some of them were even kinda cool. One guy struck up a conversation with me about classic Warcraft.
But we had a few Serial Shit Monsters who would perform unspeakable acts in the restrooms. They'd smear feces all over the walls, clog the toilets, and leave huge logs on top of the piping. Since I was often the only male working at the store, any time there was a bathroom incident in the men's, I'd have to clean it entirely on my own. I literally scraped hobo shit out from the crevices on a tiled wall for 12 an hour. More than once, in fact.
It was humiliating. But even more than that, it was terrifying. I, a humble wagie, was the only force standing against an unrelenting tide of schizo doodie. How many more like me are out there? Are we, the beleaguered wagecucks, the only thing keeping the civilized world from falling into fecal decay? And if minimum wage and constant sales quota reviews are all we have to look forward to, how long can we really hold out?
>not keeping track of which homeless people were the fecal fiends (evidence should be obvious) >not engaging in a fight to the death with the literal shit monster
apparently they closed all the brick and mortar bookstores lol
it was really shitty
I mean like total normie oriented garbage like Michelle Obama's book
>be me >be used bookstore employee in the south >stocking shelves in the religion section >woman approaches >offer help >she's looking for religious children's books >kid's lit isn't my specialty, but i know a few things on the shelves >show her a few books >we're christian, not catholic >none of the books i show her are denominational, just children's illustrated bible stories like david and goliath >i sincerely try to help her find what she's looking for >she ends up cornering me and evangelizing me for 10 minutes >end up "getting paged by my manager" to get out of the situation
many such cases
Last time I went I kept having girls come up to me and trying to introduce themselves and saying 'hi.' Perhaps I'll wear a mask next time.
This didn't happen
it did very mundanely
Impossible. I'm the most attractive person on this board and I've never been approached in a bookstore. 3/10 on your genre fiction post.
When I am trying to avoid people, I wear this. Works well
#chadproblems
This. Why can’t these big breasted bawds just leave me alone
same. this woman in particular will NOT leave me alone.
there is a window in front of her
several years ago when I worked at walmart a 6/10 girl came up to me and asked for my number and it's probably been the high point of my life
Any time anybody has come up to talk to me, especially when it's some needy college girl coming up to me asking me what book im getting and probing me for other dumb shit she wont understand
working as a cashier at one during the holiday season
>Carry my philosophy book to register
>Some zoomers look at me like a weird creature
Never go again.
Why do you care what some zoomerBlack person thinks?
>cares about what some moronic zoomer thinks about him
you are a neurotic freak
This happened to me when I was buying a Q’ran. I’d came in to buy a copy of the upanishads for a religious studies course I was doing at school (this was in bongland). The “religion” section was mostly new atheist stuff and didn’t have what I wanted but I felt bad about not buying anything.
Based Britchads not falling with eastern schizocrap. In Burgerland it's all new age mystic/Indian/my struggles as a black muslim shit.
>Q'ran
What's with the slow creeping take-over of the fricking letter Q fetishism in English Arabic translation? Back in my day it was just a Koran, because a "K" is a natural sound to an English speaker and a reasonable translation. Then later it turned into Quran and now it's fricking Q'ran? Give me a break.
K and Q are separate letters in Arabic. It's an important distinction to make because words can change in meaning depending on what you use.
I went to the bookstore and found the book I wanted but it was more expensive than on Amazon so I left and didn’t buy anything
Getting thrown out for allegedly harassing a barista eight years ago was the icing on the shit sundae for me. Why are women even allowed to have jobs?
One time in a nightclub I was told to leave the table because the women complained or something. I was talking just fine with one of them. How the frick am I supposed to meet women, then??
By raping them in a dark alley, I surmise
fat friend was probs jealous
There was indeed a fat friend lol (maybe 2, it was a bit dark). They were owners of a sushi restaurant. I guess they eat a bit too well.
Hello r*ddit.
>Hello r*ddit.
Cuckchanners acting like they're not Diet moronditors at this point kek. Get a better catchphrase troony.
Sounds like I hit a nerve kek
Reddit boy is upset
>Sounds like I hit a nerve kek
Please, the only thing you hit is the buffet, lardass. Now get some sleep. Your mother and I think you need to start looking for a job tomorrow.
You just talk to my mother, meanwhile I'm frickin yours.
Doesn't this retort feel not at least just a little bit pathetic to you, knowing that you're not actually fricking his mum?
How do you know, anyways?
Because I'm anon's mum
Post breasts then
>Sounds like I hit a nerve kek
Literal reddit response.
gay
Frick the fatties
Welcome to IQfy Black person
You guys are probably creeps and oblivious of the fact
I am autistic but I can tell this post was typed with roastie fingers, that's for sure!
So not guilty of anything? Sorry but if someone makes you uncomfortable you have a responsibility to tell them.
Why are there so many trannies on IQfy nowadays?
It’s well known place now, thanks to the ~~*media*~~
Are you the bartender?
Yes, they probably are unattractive
How is it there a barista at a bookstore?
They sell coffee inside in some bookstores
Indigo/Chapters, the major book retailer in Canada used to have a deal with Starbucks.
Last time I went to a chapters there was still a starbucks inside. They removed all the self-search kiosks though, you had to go to the front desk and ask them to search something
Both are gone in Alberta. They've been replacing the cafes with Good Earths but those have been in limbo for three years now.
Are you in Edmonton? there used to be (maybe still is) a used store on Jasper Ave I really liked. They had a cat, random assortment of western canon, and a ton of manga
No, I'm thankfully located in Calgary. I go north to visit family frequently, though. Do you remember the name of the bookstore?
There are a few I frequent here; there's a lovely shop near our military museum that's my favourite. I tend to only go to Chapters to pick up my mother's orders. I've stopped shopping with them since it took them 9 months to get my copy of Faust Part 1; they got the second part a week after the initial order was made. The staff refused to contact support or check when it was arriving because I hadn't gotten an email notifying me that the order was on its way.
I forgot to mention that after it came, they emailed me an apology along with a partial refund for 28 cents. I've saved it in my inactive account; spending that quarter would be an act of defeat.
Wee Book Inn (goggle confirmed it really quick. I was going to post a pic of their shop's bookmark but apparently I didn't save any though I know I used one for a while.)
If you bought a copy of Castro's semi-auto-biography, Blue Like Jazz, a Constance Garnett translation of Crime & Punishment, or any english volume of Tramps like Us or Love*Com, I also probably held it at some point.
Once upon a time I had a book mark of there's
the whyte location BTFOs the jasper one (which is a shame, because jasper is way easier to get to)
A lot of independent bookstores also sell coffee, it's a great business model.
Even some large retailers do too. Customers get the ambiance of the bookstore and still spend money, they might buy a book and the idiots can pretend they're intellectuals who spend times in coffee shops despite the fact that they haven't read a thing since highschool.
It was Barnes & Noble
This was actually probably the best thing that I've ever seen at a book store but I'll share it anyways
>History section of big chain book store
>Young guy is squatting down low to look at a book on the bottom shelf
>I'm lingering because a boomer is standing right in front of the books I want to look at
>Boomer shifts over to the young guys section
>Basically standing directly over him
>He lets out the loudest fart I've ever heard right in the guys face
>Says nothing, we're not even there to him
>Young guy immediately gets up and dips the frick out, makes eye contact with me and we both lose it
>"I could feel the breeze"
>Boomer grabs a copy of Vivek Ramaswamy's book "Nation of Victims"
>Refuses to elaborate
>Leaves
Pretty based to be honest hope he's doing alright
It's not my worst, but I'll post about it anyways.
It was the summer of 2023. I went to the McKay's in Knoxville. I saw a woman in her late 20's to early 30's grabbing lots of books from the Modern Lit. section, just like me. I briefly considered approaching, but didn't because what would I say?
>Haha you're just like me! I always grab so many books I struggle to carry them! That's why I always get a basket or cart.
There was also a good chance she was married considering her age. Oh well...
You do know how to tell if a woman is married, don't you??
ENTRO A UNA «GANDHI»: NO HAY LITERATURA; HAY SOLO BASURA DE «AUTOAYUDA», Y KITSCH DE IMPORTACIÓN.
Y te compraste todo, trava.
>compra en Gandhi
Por qué no?
El sótano gang
Pero prefiero librerías pequeñas y de libros usados. O en un mercadillo.
O la del FCE
On my first date with a lady I like, we went to an incredibly busy bookstore that sold new books. It was so busy that we could barely talk and had to constantly be on the move. However, afterwards we went to a used book store close by which was very nice, she even bought me a book.
that's just the mini golf experience
I tried to make small talk with the cashier and she just looked me with an annoyed glance
When I was a kid my cousin and I were really into a young adult series and the new book had just came out and we were both excited to read it
Well we had visited out grandparents house and our grandmother had given us $20 for helping out in the garden and so we walked together to buy the new book, it was my first book I had ever bought with my own money
When my mother found out about she was furious, started shouting at me and telling me that I should have just borrowed it from the library or borrowed my cousin's copy and forced me to go to the bookstore and to ask for a refund
*about it
does your mother have BPD? what a strange and unhinged reaction.
are u ok
r u?
Book buyers are moronic and this mother is in the right.
>some ugly chick kept talking to me
>wasnt annoyed at her but myself for not being as socially adept and making it somewhat awkward
>be me, living in portland during college
>go to small bookstore
>cute and cramped, very cozy
>looking for econ books
>cannot find any econ books
>ask cashier if there are econ books
>she says they probably dont have that sort of thing
>ask if theres a politics section since they might have ended up there
>she says theres not a politics section but something similar
>leads me to a corner, there is a "Radical Solutions" section
>entirely wokeshit NYT type books, marx and kropotkin
i literally just left after seeing that. i think it was Belmont Books but I could be wrong.
btw Mother Foucault's is the best bookstore in portland, not powells
>went to a book store
>they didn't have the book I wanted
Many such cases.
>go to Indigo (Canadian version of Barnes and Noble) at the local mal
>philosphy section
>100 books about "thinking like a stoic"
>sam harris
>stephen pinker
>turn 360 degrees and walk out
The only worthwhile section at Indigo is their reduced section. You can find cheap editions of public domain books and hardcovers of non-fiction that didn't sell well for $10 or less. The other thing is using their computer kiosks to print out the titles of books you find interesting and want to look for elsewhere.
>buying copies of public domain works
Well, I have not ventured in a book store to actually, well, shop for books in a long while. The last time I went was to sign some legal documents and the time before was at a used book store and I was the only person there (it was comfy).
Do you mind if today's story of me at the local library counts:
>Chatting up with librarians.
>This big goth troony whale comes from the back room where the books are sorted.
>Turns out she is an intern.
>FRICK MY LIFE, THAT IS THE SECOND troony WHO HAS POWER OVER ME, GOD, CAN SOMEBODY HELP ME.
Hey, I get my copies for $1.00 or less usually, so it is cheap enough.
Their history section is worse. A quarter is nothing but race in America, a quarter WW2, a quarter dedicated exclusively to the Holocaust and the rest of history is smashed into the final quarter.
But if you turned 360 degrees you would be facing the same way again
yeah, he probably meant 720
First day on the internet huh?
He walked out backwards, dummy.
Girls talk to you guys?
Back when I was a normal person, yea. Now I’m a neet recluse, so no.
I went into a bookstore that was one of the big franchised ones looking for a copy of Notes from the underground that didn't have a frick ugly cover. I wasn't expecting much and it wasn't there. Because I am autistic I didn't notice that I had walked into the middle of a book signing for the author Matthew Reilly. It was at the end of the day and he was sitting there at his desk looking tired. I walked past him and said "hey I loved your books when I was a teen, thanks for helping me pass the time". I didn't realise at the time that what I said was offensive and couldn't understand his dejected, slightly sad look when I said it. He didn't reply. I still feel bad when I think that I might have hurt his feelings.
>I didn't realise at the time that what I said was offensive
very relatable
How was what he said offensive? Do teen authors, children's authors, and YA authors really expect people to keep reading their age-graded shit until they die? All that guy said was, "Hey, when I was your target demographic, I really enjoyed your books!" How is that offensive?
I think the phrase "helping me pass the time" was the more painful part: it sounds like he only read it to escape boredom. I guess if I was a YA author I'd hope that my books would install a passion for reading or that people would develop a love for the world and characters I created (like Harry Potter managed), but comments like this suggest otherwise.
On the other hand, if anon is really autistic, maybe he completely misread Reilly's facial expression.
i think the issue is with the second half of what he said
when you do something to "pass the time," it means you do it because you have some time available, not because you really want to do it. it's like he only read his books because he had nothing better to do, it was just a time killer. that makes his compliment sound insincere
>pour your heart and soul into your writing
>some nerd thanks you for helping him pass the time as a teenager
absolutely devastating
>head to counter with a copy of Critique of Pure Reason
>bump into someone as I'm walking
>drop the book
>go to pick it up but my trousers rip
>'I guess you kant pick it up'
>start blushing & leave the book on the floor & hurry to the exit
>realize I need to buy something so I buy a get well soon card at the counter & run for the door
I can't think of any bad bookstore expirence besides the bookstore being kinda shit once.
Every time I've been in the bookstore I just look at books and maybe buy one
>visit a small used bookstore
>the clerk keeps constantly staring at me in complete silence
>scowls at me in disapproval as i make my purchase (Wild Palms by Faulkner)
>feel his eyes burning into my back as i leave the store
Female cashier going "My boyfriend likes him"
>Teenager, age 16.
>Waiting for my girlfriend to finish her tutoring lesson at a shopping district.
>Broke, mainly got by with pirated PDFs and the school library.
>Do the usual stroll through Indigo's fiction aisles.
>After a few laps, I decided that I'd use my limited funds available to purchase Houellebecq's Platform.
>Walk to the cashier triumphantly rocking ripped jeans, a Current 93 tee, a shredded flannel, and a water-logged skateboard.
>Placed the book gently on the till.
>As I took my wallet out of my barely intact flannel pocket, the ancient cashier looked me directly in the eyes and creaked out, "you don't look like you can read".
>"Ahh I ummm I uhhh I"
>Picked up the novel without paying, sprinting out of the store like a mouse in the pantry.
I ended up heading back a few years later with a resume and the same prehistoric cashier was decaying behind the till.
he owned you dude. you will never recover from that
>C93
You deserved it
About last Summer, I went into a charity bookstore without the intention on buying anything, but just to see what kind of selection they had and as I'm looking through their classics section, I overhear a customer at the till asking the store assistant whether they have a copy of Animal Farm. Behind the till is a man who looks a bit nerdy and in his early 40's. He tells the woman that he'll check downstairs and then starts to move. Just before he leaves the room, he turns back to the customer and says,
>Oh, by the way, who's the author again?
Politely, the lady responds "George Orwell".
>Oh, didn't he write War of the Worlds?
Reminds of the time I bought some books at an antique store. The lady at the counter read out the titles and their prices to confirm them with me. One of the books I was buying was The Complete Works of Rabelais. She pronounced Rabelais as "rebellious". I said nothing and nodded to confirm I was indeed purchasing The Complete Works of Rebellious for $4.
that one time I wasted money on Ulysses
Damn I worked at Strand for years. Can tell this is an old photo because there's cookbooks next to the info desk, we changed those to comic books now, cookbooks are upstairs. It was actually a fun job
So you majored in English? Nancy Bass explains every staff member has majored in English (0:34)
?si=g6RkQxjgDTa1X8rb&t=33
I was an English major
Post made me nostalgic for my early 20s when I moved to NYC with no plans other than to be a "Writer"
Eventually I got a real job. Strand was cool though
There aren't any small bookstores near where I live. My college has a campus bookstore and if I shop somewhere else it's a Barnes and Nobles. Other than my school's bookstore trying to rip me off with absurd prices, I've never had a bad experience at a bookstore.
>Want to reread Pickwick Papers
>kinda want to own it because it's such a comfy book
>work at uni, so decide to just print the whole book on their printer and put it in a binder
>split it up in 100 page sections do it over the course of a week
>they somehow find out and I get fired for theft, they threaten to press charges but don't
Frick you, Belinda.
Well, theft is theft, thief. You could’ve bought the book for like 5 bucks if it was such a good book instead of being a parasite.
It probably cost them like 10$ in paper and ink. I bet I "stole" more than that in the form of spare pens while I worked there.
>Go look at the politics section (Spain) of a big spanish bookstore franchise
>Be surprised to find Jose Antonio Primo de Rivera's complete works (I'm not a falangist but nonetheless I found it interesting to read)
> Bald literal basedjack like picrel, an exact fricking copy of picrel in real life, comes as fast as it can
> "Oh is that Jose Antonio? Well I don't know what interest that might have besides the laughs, you know, like (motherfricker inserts a center-right spanish politician as if suggesting he's a falangist, mind you, a center right politician who has passed more progressive pro-lgtbq laws than the left) no one better than that one for humor right?
> I still find it interesting tho and don't get intimidated, go upstairs and sit on a coach they have there to read a little bit
> After a few minutes he goes upstairs and comes as fast as he can to my coach to find me reading Jose Antonio's complete works
> SO YOU ACTUALLY TOOK THE BOOK SERIOUSLY?! he said indignantly, then went down as fast as he came up
>Some time later I went to the same bookstore to get Hegel's enciclopedia of philosophical sciences
>The book is nowhere to be found
>As I walk around the bookstore every single shopkeeper give me killer stares and look at me with disgust
>Hegel is nowhere to be found
>Ask around to the shopkeepers, they avoid me like the plague
>Only option left is the basedjak shopkeeper
>Ask him where can I find the encyclopedia
>He searches around, tells me they had none of that
>He's really exhalted, nervous and passive agressive this time
>Tell him to search on the place's computer
>Turns out they moved it from the Philosophy section to the "history of philosophy" and thought it was a manual of history of philosophy due to the title
>He angrily goes for a ladder, get's to the correct library while I follow around, and grabs the book
>As he hands it over to me, he says with an air of superiority "This book teaches about history of philosophy"
>I answer "well, it actually lays down Hegel's system I believe"
> "N-no, it's about HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY".
>Everytime I go to the same bookstore he starts walking around me and squacking angrily, which just happens to motivate me to go more times there.
This is hilarious. You pissed off a redditor by reading a book he politically disagreed with and then he turned the entire staff against you. And now he tried to one up you every chance he gets. Lmao, I will never understand people like that.
Falso y homosexual.
But to give the benefit of the doubt, please do say what bookstore was this?
La Casa Del Libro
reads like a shitpost, smells like a shitpost, most likely a shitpost
I do really know it really looks like a shitpost but it's honestly true
>the state of Spain
You have to buy a book on catalan feminism and a novel about lesbian vegan girl from Barcelona falling for a Moroccan girl so the shopkeepers will accept you.
how is it that Spain was the last keyed state in Europe and now they're one of the most cucked?
kind of like Ireland
Most cucked is England.
>be South African (braai tribe)
>very fond memories of the bookstore at the cape town waterfront mall
>books are expensive in south africa, and it's hard to find a big selection, but this place was worth it
>big store for a mall, lots of light, windows at the back looking at the sea
>picked up my first ever book of philosophy there (Russell, but it was a good start)
>when I was a teenager I went in to ask for Atlas Shrugged, and a qt blonde attendant gets excited and brings me to the shelf
>"I'm so happy to see someone else reading this!"
>found Rian Malan, first step to understanding the real history of south africa
>stumble on Lacan's Seminar VII in college, my first Lacan
>many other memories of finding books that made a big impact there
>go back after covid
>store is half the size, half is now a restaurant next door
>everything painted dark, no more natural light or sea view
>first three shelves by the door are labeled "Big on BookTok"
>tables are full of tourist crap about africa and other crap for middle-aged white women
>no attendants, cashiers look sullen and overworked
>go to philosophy section
>it's almost all self-help crap. I count the books.
>four books of actual philosophy
>Meditations
>two mis-titled books of extracts from Aristotle ("How to Live A Good Life" or some shit like that)
>one lonely volume of Spinoza iirc
>real sadness hits me, feel like I've lost part of my childhood
>gnaws at me all day in a way I don't usually feel
>spend the evening drinking beers by the sea and reading Kantorowicz
I know most things from childhood go away, and everything falls apart eventually if you're South African, but it didn't have to be like this. I wish the place had just closed instead of becoming a shell of itself for booktokers and tourists.
>Kantorowicz
Very based. His book about Frederick II Hohenstaufen is one of my favourites
you're such a fokken poes, my bru, jou fokken doos a slight breeze would snap your neck
Wat is Afrikaans toch een achterlijke taal. Leer gewoon normaal Nederlands. Jullie klinken als een stel mongolen.
you should hear coloured/mixed afrikaans
neederlandish ees joost Eenglish boot spooken look thees
I spent a couple of years in SA. Beautiful country ruined by n......
Biggest book fair in my country. See this QT3.14 who owns a small, independent children book publisher. Too much of a b***h to go talk to her.
Ff years later, she's married to a fat bald dude. Mfw I had a chance and she's bi, so probably into threesomes.
Pic rel, them.
But IQfy told me women never date or marry men uglier than them. Wtf
IQfy here, I never said that.
how would know if you had a chance if you never talked to her. That's like saying you could've gotten a job you never applied for.
>early 2010s
>go to bookstore looking for something by Zora Neale Hurston
>start searching the fiction bookshelves
>quickly realize the fiction is sorted by first name for some moronic reason
>z is on the bottom, have to get on my knees
>there's a gap in the books and on the other aisle I see bare feet and notice weird laughing noises
>grab my book and take a peek around the other
>dan Schneider tickling and filming Ariana Grande's feet
>gnaws at me all day in a way I don't usually feel
>spend the evening drinking beers by the sea and reading Kantorowicz
I can't remember any bad experiences at bookstores, those are pretty positive places, but I went to the Texas Book Festival one year, and it's one of these events where authors give talks and sell their books. I checked in one panel by several authors who had written books about the Mexican drug war, and right before asking a question during the Q&A a local activist type stormed the tent, and she started hectoring them "bluhhh!!!!! The Texas Book Festival discriminates against people of color!!!! There are too many white authors and not enough Hispanics!!!! We read books too! I demand you react to me right now ayeeee!@!!1"
All the authors on the panel were Hispanic btw and spoke Spanish including a Mexican-American reporter who lived in Mexico. And they just played it off and one said that Hispanic people don't read books... they write them! Referring to themselves. Then she left.
Chicanos are cringe
>hometown for holidays
>swing by B&N
>store is a mess
>loud fat manager yelling across floor to coworker about dating gossip
>roam around, nothing of interest
>check out bookmark stand, all chinkcrap
>as I turn away fat manager beelines to bookmarks
>glares at me the whole time
>sifts through stand then stares daggers at me and shouts
>"We need to do better LP on bookmarks Sandra, SOMEONE'S been stealing them again"
>all the while giving me the evil eye
>was wearing a tailored jacket, collared white shirt, slacks and leather loafers
>meanwhile she ignores the homeless looking hispanic muttering to himself while pacing the children's section
>went back a year later
>she is still there
>fatter
>louder
>angrier
>Go to bookstore
>Buy a volume of the Sailor Moon manga
>Friend makes fun of me
Once when I was a teen I went to see RA Salvatore do a talk and signing, and the fricking c**ts of Indigo staff had anyone without the newest book get their autograph last. So I had to wait at least 40 minutes in line to get my anthology signed, and several times I was about to get my book signed a fricking c**ty Indigo employee would be like "OOP THERE'S A FEW MORE PEOPLE HERE WAITING FOR YOUR AUTOGRAPH" and bump me and the few other people without the newest book specifically got bumped back down the queue. Fricking c**ts.
In Germany we got a big bookstore, called Wittwer-Thalia. One time I went there to buy my sister a present and saw that they got an entire section just with pride flags and pride accessories + an entire shelf with gay books.
And then I went to someone working there in order to ask if they have a certain book and, guess what, it's a troony.
One floor above, they got a bunch of books about smug brown people writing books with titles like
> wallah Germany, we have to talk
> the white blemish
> what white people can do now
Pic related. Just a few examples.
>live in london
>see bookshop
>walk in, it's a trendy coffee shop masquarading as a bookshop
>no classics, all they sell is books about white supremacy, pop-science, pop-political slop laregly written by black people.
This is basically every bookshop now. Liberalism killed literature and they still like to gloat it over us IQfyizens.
>die insel
heh
>take my niece to a large non chain bookstore in Columbus, Ohio
>she’s got to use the bathroom
>there’s only one unisex toilet
>decide to do a quick inspection/clean up job before she uses it
>copy of The Tom of Finland Omnibus sitting on the floor
>piss and jizz all over the toilet seat
>tell a cashier and take niece across the street to a restaurant so she can use a clean toilet
>return to the bookstore an hour later
>the toilet is untouched
This didn't happen, though, did it? Typical rightoid moronic story with no basis in reality
No basis whatsoever. Everyone knows gays would never jerk off and frick in a public restroom, they are known for modesty and decorum
Yes, it fricking happened. And I’m a colossal homosexual myself, so I don’t have anything against homosexuals. It’s probably why I’m stuck watching my niece all the time. The store was the Book Loft in German Village in case you’re interested/an Ohioan.
>Book Loft
Glad to see some Columbus anons, the store always has either overpriced books or slightly underpriced books which is what got me to go there as many time as I have. Also it's great for my normie friends to look for their shit while I look at cheapo Dover Thrift Editions. Columbus is more of a used book store city, thankfully. Just have to know where to look.
A professor recommended I check out Karen Wycliffe's (or however you spell it) books. This was post pandemic and she was only doing 30 minute scheduled appointments, double masking required. That turned me off and I've never been. Otherwise that store seems like a good place to find some niche, forgotten, and odd books.
Blessed trips. That place has a great selection, only went there once a year or so ago and I don't think they've got the mask policy or the appointments anymore from what I remember. Pretty decent prices too, like a better Half-Priced Books. God, I miss Half-Priced Books while I've been living in Babylon.
I'll peruse it this weekend then, assuming she's open on weekends.
>double masking
Does absolutely nothing
Thanks, I guess. I’m in Youngstown.
Howdy boys, Akron area here. The scene here is...meh
>The Book Loft
I've never been there, but from what I can tell it looks like it's basically a front for BLM shit. I have doubts about the quality of the books they sell, and I assume everything is overpriced.
It is extremely overrated. I had to stop in and buy an emergency copy of Escape From Freedom (I do not care that hes a Frankfurt schooler, the book is great) and it is a pop-shop masquerading as an old book store. Really, the only thing worthwhile around there is Katzingers. The Half Price Books tend to be pretty good in the area.
>emergency copy of Escape from Freedom
lel, from the way you worded that it sounds like you had so much freedom it was about to kill you and you needed to be rid of it immediately
I’m going today , what should I pick up? Also how do I get cute art ho lit enjoyers to speak to me
Just succumb to the bookstore experience.
Never read it, but I assume this is from If on a winter's night a traveler, and now I'm glad I never read it.
It's for people who like reading or the jokes go over your head.
my childhood mall used to have a WaldenBooks
I went in once to get a Chuck Klosterman collection because I was going through a phase where I thought if I read pretentious opinion pieces by homosexual New Yorkers, I'd be perceived as more cool
book was like $25, and this was in like 2006 so it was stupid expensive
checked amazon later and it was $12
frick Walden Books I'm glad you went bankrupt, and frick Chuck Klosterman you're a pompous prick
>using Amazon in 2006
Doubt. Amazon was not popular in 2006. People still used eBay if they did online shopping.
please do not dispute his lived experience
Amazon was indeed used in 2006, I used to buy used cds through them for dirt cheap
it might have been 2007-08, I just remember the book came out late 2006 and I had waited a bit to not get hit by new release pricing
the used book section on Amazon used to be an absolute goldmine in 2006-2008, I picked up a bunch of Stephen King first editions like IT and The Bachman Books for next to nothing compared to what eBay sellers wanted
I bought trading cards off Amazon in 2006, you're full of shit and probably 15 years old.
I bought CDs and foreign DVDs from Amazon in 2003.
yea frick you klosterman
Was browsing the antique books section when a chunky b***h ripped a fat one right in front of me
I must learn to read
WORST experiences, anon
>mostly buy books online
>go to city's annual book fair
>many spurges there literally pushing piles of books into their trolleys so they can go sift through what they want afterwards
Prices there are really good and you often find some really decent OoP fantasy so I just put up with it. Only bookshop I go to regularly is a genre-fiction specialist bookshop in my city, the owner and his wife are chill and have given me genuinely good recommendations before. Their prices are outrageous though, compared to online. They charge more than it costs to get the book online and them have it shipped to australia but I don't mind splurging every 6 months or so because book shops especially niche shops like that are so rare here. I also go to the local """""esoteric""""" bookshop from time to time and will pick up some cheap schizoshit by a local author for a laugh.
what's with all the Canadianhomosexuals here?
Enjoying the place, just like you. Do we have a problem, bucko?
>Looking at classics section
>Girl comes up
>Ou echo lalein barbaristi, o neania, alla monon Hellenisti. En alethei, proseimi humin zeton ton didaskalon mou, onoma Chrusippon. Dia tes gar kaloumenes chrones mechanes, prosesti kai autos humin. Eipe moi, exeis ti peri autou e enetunchanas autoi?
>"Umm..ok?" she walks off confused
I tried translating and got nothing but gibberish
It's probably because it's not modern greek and online translators only translate modern greek. Find an ancient greek translator. I'm not that anon, so it may not be ancient greek.
Translation?
>Where do you come from, barbarian, or from Athens only? In truth, I am prepared to teach you, my teacher's name is Chrysippus. For he has just arrived after a long absence, he is also at your service. Tell me, do you have anything to say about him or have you met him personally?
It says: I'm not able to speak barbarian, woman (meant to say neanis), but only Greek. In truth, I'm with you (pl.) seeking my teacher, his name's Chrusippon. For because of the so-called time machine, he himself is here with you (pl.) also. Tell me, do you know anything about him, or have you stumbled upon him?
Yeah...my greentext is more accurate than that garbled shit you wrote. Hit the books some more kiddo. Also, your amateur translations of some untranslated Greek works are definitely garbled garbage like your post.
what's wrong with it?
Went into a second hand bookstore and they had no books by Carlyle. Was lookng fot his biography of Friedrich I left a suprise don't worry
>want a copy of hunger by Knut Hamsun
>bookshop which is normally quite willing to order in obscure books
>”sorry it’s a limited run translation” we don’t have any in stock and can’t order it in
It wasn’t. I’ve just checked their website and they have the paperback in stock. I’m convinced that the sort of people who work in Waterstones will try to disrupt a sale with a “problematic” enough author. It obviously isn’t a company policy but I genuinely believe the type that they hire would be willing to do this informally.
I asked my local book retailer to order The Diary of a Rapist and they did without a second glance. You need to change stores.
Do you really think the bookstore wagie knows or cares who knut hamsun is
Yes. Lots of wagies enjoy getting petty victory over customers. I have no doubt the clerk vaguely knew Hamsun was somewhat associated with Nazis and decided to deny the sale of the book. For the wagie it was a petty victory: "Heh, take that you heckin fascist! You won't be reading Nazi shit on my watch!"
Here are some specimens I’ve encountered in waterstones:
1. Woman who literally looks like the libleft woman from the politics compass memes but without the dyed hair. Seemed annoyed I came to the counter when she was chatting with her coworker. She was somewhat standoffish for no reason. This was in Hexham.
2. Greying/balding man who seemed down in the dumps. Felt bad for him. He could be really nice or really bitter. This was in Gateshead.
3. Landwhale of a man with a beard who wore a ring in the shape of a corvid skull. Not strongfat btw just fat. I got an “ooh er” from him when I asked for a copy of “The Sailor who Fell from Grace with the Sea.” Seemed uncomfortable with me asking for the book. This was in Gateshead.
4. A women who was very perky and talked to customers about the books. She gave recommendations and seemed nice. I mention her because they had her working in the literal cellar instead of on the floors with lots of customers and the new books they want to shill. This was in the Newcastle upon Tyne store in front of Greys monument. They have cellar open to the public where they keep their sci-fi and fantasy books.
1-3 are exactly the types who have a good chance of caring about petty stuff. It gives them a sense of importance and for 1 and 3 they might think they’re fighting le ebil heckin fascerino in their head. 4’s situation is proof of what types like 1-3 are like. You know how in schools kids will bully eachother over petty stuff like hairstyles, glasses and
who has air force one trainers? It’s a bit like that. It gives them a sense of agency that wagies don’t get at work and they can’t enjoy at home because they don’t have any real hobbies.
This
Which part of the UK are you in? I’m in Northumberland but I sometimes shop in Tyne and Wear. I read on some forums that they expect employees to be well read. Does everyone just lie on their application? I have aspergers and only recently found out how common it is to lie on an application.
That is a liberal book that is a written by a liberal-managerial new deal type author. His other books are also (shocker) about how liberal-managerial types and how le heckin bourgeoise lifestyle and le heckin bourgeoise marriage are banal and lifeless in his view. The wagie doesn’t know this of course but they have a notion diary of a rapist is somehow progressive and will at least implicitly engage in goodthink. The book does this without even having to be read. It implicitly condems the rapist just by having the title “diary of a rapist.” It relies on the reader knowing rape is bad to draw in attention so the wagie can go through the thought process described above without actually even reading the novel. They probably did so as you asked for the book. Hamsun doesn’t do this.
Hey man, how man, hey man.
>Which part of the UK are you in?
South East London, worked for a huge comfy Waterstones in a big shopping centre. I can't speak for every Waterstones, but the manager seemed genuinely impressed with my surface level knowledge of lit. I think I was reading Hunger as well, funnily enough, as I was going through my "deep phase". Might be wrong about that, though.
And as I said, at this point I was 17/18 and had no real knowledge on literature. I had only come across Celine and Hamsun due to Bukowksi often mentioning them. I also pretended to have read the Satyricon as well, which she was also very impressed by. If the management was so impressed by a pseud like me it really makes you wonder what the other staff were digesting. Especially as the normie definition of wellread is reading thriller slop.
Although I do concur, I likely worked at one of the nicest Waterstones in the country. It was incredibly comfy and had a huge selection of books. The sci-fi section had a huge painting of Cthullu across the wall. Can't find a picture of it online and I don't live anywhere near that shop anymore but it was probably top of the barrel Waterstones. A lot of the other Waterstones I've been to are bland and pander towards liberal ideologies.
Sounds nice. I get what you mean about normie standards being low. I’m not very well read either but everyone seems to think I am whenever I mention a book at uni (I’m doing a history degree btw not something where you’re not expected to read much) because none of them will have read it. E.g. we were talking about HOI4 and I mentioned the 1984 mod and all I got was “what’s 1984.” Also for the but in fascism the seminar leader seamed surprised/concerned I’d flicked through primary sources like Codex Fascismo and 100 questions. Standards are so low it’s insane (I’m not a fascist btw I’m an ancap).
Tbh I sort of prefer Blackwells over Waterstones because it’s literally just a series of books on plain white shelves. They’re just there and are presented as is without ostentatious stuff around them like Waterstones. Also it was in blackwells that my grandmother first found out what manga is and that was quite amusing. I get the appeal of sitting in the cafes in Waterstones and reading but I’ve only done that with family members with books I already own.
This. I will not be surprised if “Settlers” is on the reading list next year. Ed Dutton did quite a good video on pop-sci race books and how they rely on fallacious/bad faith arguments. I think the amount of people who actually read these books will be quite few. It’s about legitimising the ideology (look, it’s in a book) and showing dominance. A bit like how millions of copies of Mein Kampf and the Little Red Book were printed with few people actually reading them. In the USSR people actually bought tons of communist literature so they could hand it in at a recycling drive to get a voucher for a rare book that they actually wanted to read. If you did this too often the authorities caught on and you got into trouble. It’s not the contents of the book that matter it’s enshrining the ideology a something sacred; a dogma that can’t be questioned. Using the books as a means to an end and destroying them in doing so you commit a sacrilege against the dogma. Leftists academics might read them but even they will heavily skim. This is why the book can be utter hokum but it’s still produced: It’s not meant to be used as a book but as a talisman or a good luck charm to enforce the belief. I’m thinking about converting the Catholicism. One Catholic I met has a collection of many rosaries and I think this is a version of that.
>Zoomers don't know what 1984 is
Somewhat shocking, but understandable since Bongland is more cucked than America in its attempts to decolonize its required reading in schools. No doubt 1984 was removed and replaced with trash like The Hate U Give. Nothing says DYSTOPIA more than a novel about how Cops are literally hunting down black people in the street...because...BECAUSE THEY JUST ARE OK!?
Actually I’m pretty sure the hate you give was recommended on some monthly book thing in the library when I was in school. 1984 wasn’t on the curriculum but Benjamin Zephaniah was
Also, I should've noted, this was 2017, way before the political climate began to infect wagie workspaces. So I'm speaking of a time that's far removed from the current, post-covid moronation we live in now. I don't think it's unfair to say that liberals have began to weaponise literature against negative-thinkers ever since all those Black riots took place in 2020.
Being wellread by modern standards probably means you've read all the pop-race sociology books every big bookseller shills to you
I worked in a waterstones for a few years and outside of the manager none of the other staff had any knowledge of literature outside of Harry Potter. Unless you just so happened to be in the most wellread waterstones in the entire UK, I'd just assume the cashier made a mistake.
I once was looking for a specific trnaslation of The Trial by Kafka and the girl behind the counter was taking forever to check, and physically struggling to understand what I was trying to tell her. I wouldn't assume it was anything but her moronation that led to this mishap.
you have textbook paranoia
Yeah, most people aren’t going to know who Hamsun and Mishima are, and even if they do, they are thoroughly mainstream writers. No employee is giving you dirty looks or sabotaging your quest for Hamsun
>on date with girl
>we go to a used bookstore
>I joke that I want to ask where the philosophy section is, but don't want to be 'that guy'
>she insists on asking for me, even after I repeatedly beg her not to
No second date. I still think about her occasionally though.
You missed out on the sort of girl that will complain for you when they get your order wrong and will mother you on occasion.
Yeah, well, what can I do about it? The past is the past. Besides, I'm a grown man. I don't need to be mothered.
>I'm a grown man. I don't need to be mothered.
My gf is younger than me and mothers me sometimes, it's nice.
That sounds nice. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't be opposed that kind of thing on occasion, but I also don't want to be the type of person that can't function on his own.
>she insists on asking for me, even after I repeatedly beg her not to
Sounds like you let a good one go. obnoxious pretentious weirdos are hard to find
I didn't let her go. She said she didn't think she should be dating at the moment. She also wasn't weird, just really kind.
It's so fricking grim where I live. New stores filled to the brim with NYTBS garbage, used stores are dumping grounds for Stephen King and romance novels for bored housewives. A few weeks ago I tried driving around all day to see if any place had decent books in languages other than English but the best I could find were dictionaries and crash course books on par with something you might give a WW2 soldier. That and the convenience and sheer availability of stuff on the net has completely killed physical shopping for me.
>small old used bookstore by where I live
>has plenty of hidden gems and variety
>run by an old man, Sicilian anthropologist who studied at La Sorbonne and NYU
>shop was originally ran by a friend of his, who died
>one day the shop doesn't open again
>months pass
>the clear out every book and remodel the place
>there's a trendy hipster bar there now
Books for this feel?
I tried to use the bathroom once but someone was already in there
I hate public restrooms. It's always a no man's land & wild West combined, especially if there is only one toilet, one sink and one urinal. The amount of times I've almost had fights over the duckfricking restroom, had the police called on me, had people body tackling the fricking door, had shouting at me through walls, you would think that the public restroom is the most turbulent place in all of society. In fact, I'd bet that the next world war is actually going to be because one guy couldn't use the restroom at the NATO meeting, then swore a vendetta under the facade of international politics.
Where the frick do you live? And what places are these restrooms at? Jesus.
>In fact, I'd bet that the next world war is actually going to be because one guy couldn't use the restroom at the NATO meeting, then swore a vendetta under the facade of international politics.
lol
In my country the public bathrooms in train stations used to have blue lighting so heroin junkies wouldn't be able to find their veins and shoot up in there. Now they've closed public bathrooms in most locations and only have a few paid ones here and there.
I was in South Korea a few months ago and they had public bathrooms everywhere. All of them were free and completely clean. Really made me feel ashamed for my own degenerate country where we can't have nice things without certain "people" destroying them.
I work in a bookstore and I have to suffer through all you aspergers chuds buying Meditiations, Robert Green, 12 Rules for Life and Fear And Loathing in Las Vegas all the time
Although you're still better than all the old decrepit weirdos
I feel that. Most of the people who came into the store I worked at were 30 somethings looking for YA books, Christians looking for Joel Osteen, women looking for a book called #Girlboss in the business section, etc. Had a few cool people though. One guy and I had a good conversation about Mandarin and Latin.
A while ago I went to a book store (La Casa del Libro) to see if they had a book that a friend had recommended. The book was a breakdown of The Communist Manifesto and a critique of it (picrel is the two parts of the book). They didn't have it in the store, so they offered to order it in for me. I assumed it would take about a week to get here. Fast forward 2 months, the book finally arrives. I was a bit pissed off because of how long it took, but i bought it anyways. A week after that, Find the same book in a different bookstore, and way cheaper. Never going back to La Casa del Libro.
La Casa del Libro sometimes seems to hire the worst kind of shopkeepers possible. I remember once I asked for Marx's Capital (adbridged antology) and the shopkeeper got arrogant asking what tome I was asking for, clarifying me that "it is actually three tomes" in a dismissive way, while I told him time and time again that I was searching for the adbridged antology (pic-rel). Some of them often behave like that for no actual reason but to "assert themselves" over the clients.
As I said, i stopped going there. Their book selection in the store was pretty bad, they kept moving the sections around and the employees are mostly horrible. Now I go to a local bookstore which is fantastic. The owner is an old guy with almost photographic memory who knows all the books they have in the store. The other people who work there are really friendly and always helpful. Also, the store looks like an actual book store, not like La Casa del Libro, that looks like an Apple store.
>go to bookstore
>takes forever to find book
>line is long as shit
>put book back on shelf
>be in my comfortable bed
>open app
>find book within seconds
>Buy Now
>is on my front doorstep in two days
Why even go to bookstore anymore?
Last time I went to a physical location to get a GPU, I saw some couple get the same exact GPU from another employee. The dude helping me comes back says someone else took it, yea motherfricker I see it right in front of me, and offers an inferior product. I almost bought it but instead walked out vowing to never purchase anything physically again except for groceries.
I buy the majority of my groceries online too
Unfortunately I can't do this with meat as they charge too much for delivery but my fruit & veges at least
I hate grocery shopping with a passion
>small private bookstore in my hometown
>buying some ernest hemmingway
>cashier piles the recommended books at me
>tells me about how one particular one was written by a israeli concentration camp survivor
>"if you have time to read a small book (the old man and the sea) you have time to read these"
>get pissed
>tell her I despise israelites
>tells me to leave
>i do, without my books
in hindsight this was simultaneously the most cringe edge lord and ballsiest moment of my life so far.
the mask dropped that day for a split second but I never got any repercussions from it.
You did good anon
>things that never happened the thread
Upon opening the door, a musty or mildew smell wafted out. The first thing I see is a narrow aisle with books stacked to the ceiling. Next a man comes slowly toward me and I say "how are you doing?" And he replies "what are you looking for?" Me "oh I'm just looking, we were driving by and saw the place and wanted to check it out" to which he says "we're only open for business NOT looking"
This is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. I promptly left, never to return
This is that Northeastern bookstore run by the curmudgeon, where you have to pay a door $15 entrance fee (non-refundable, but can be applied to purchases). I remember those threads.
We walked in and were mesmerized by all the books and narrow aisles...UNTIL a stocky rotund bald man came creeping out from between the stacks to inform us of a "$5 entry fee". I laughed because I thought he was kidding. He wasn't.
Shocked and confused we said "forget it" and started to leave. As we were on our way out the door he snidely remarked "There's a library downtown". What a jerk. And what a nerve to advertise as a book store and then expect people to pay $5 to look around.
The book part itself didn't creep me out too much. I thought it was pretty cool that he had all those books and didn't charge me the $5 fee for browsing. I left immediately after getting to the porn in the back and realizing that the owner, a rude, bald man, had written descriptions on the price tags of what each porn movie was about and if it was "good" or not. Including writing what the body parts of the porn stars like.
I worked at a Barnes and Noble for a few years. Ours was located in our city's only thriving mall, and we saw a truly absurd amount of traffic for a brick-and-mortar bookstore. Most of the customers were your usual mall-types, mostly suburban housewives, teens, and the elderly.
But we also got our fair share of homeless people coming in, usually to take shelter from the weather or find a corner to curl up in for a bit. Nobody really cared, since most of them just wanted to be left alone. Some of them were even kinda cool. One guy struck up a conversation with me about classic Warcraft.
But we had a few Serial Shit Monsters who would perform unspeakable acts in the restrooms. They'd smear feces all over the walls, clog the toilets, and leave huge logs on top of the piping. Since I was often the only male working at the store, any time there was a bathroom incident in the men's, I'd have to clean it entirely on my own. I literally scraped hobo shit out from the crevices on a tiled wall for 12 an hour. More than once, in fact.
It was humiliating. But even more than that, it was terrifying. I, a humble wagie, was the only force standing against an unrelenting tide of schizo doodie. How many more like me are out there? Are we, the beleaguered wagecucks, the only thing keeping the civilized world from falling into fecal decay? And if minimum wage and constant sales quota reviews are all we have to look forward to, how long can we really hold out?
>not keeping track of which homeless people were the fecal fiends (evidence should be obvious)
>not engaging in a fight to the death with the literal shit monster
>fighting with a crazy man who smears shit on a wall
last bookstore I went to was an Amazon bookstore like 5 years ago
what a joke that place was
>Amazon bookstore
What is this? I didn't think Amazon had physical locations, other than "Amazon lockers", which is just a Post Office.
apparently they closed all the brick and mortar bookstores lol
it was really shitty
I mean like total normie oriented garbage like Michelle Obama's book
I keep touching hands with girls when we both reach for Mein Kamf
>be me
>be used bookstore employee in the south
>stocking shelves in the religion section
>woman approaches
>offer help
>she's looking for religious children's books
>kid's lit isn't my specialty, but i know a few things on the shelves
>show her a few books
>we're christian, not catholic
>none of the books i show her are denominational, just children's illustrated bible stories like david and goliath
>i sincerely try to help her find what she's looking for
>she ends up cornering me and evangelizing me for 10 minutes
>end up "getting paged by my manager" to get out of the situation
many such cases