How did I work at Borders for so long and never know this was a thing? Also, I would kill to be able to have access to TLU today.
In my errands today, I had occasion to drive past my old store, which still sits empty. The absence of the Borders sign is almost clearer than the old sign itself was. Fragments of bookcases and lighting fixtures still sit inside, scavenged long ago for any useful parts. I drove past the back of the building and saw that the dumpsters were gone, but a bookcase we had long ago tried to get rid of by throwing behind our dumpster was, in fact, still there. I parked and opened the gate and walked over to the case. It was beyond warped - the shelves all 3 inches thick and flaky, the finish all worn off. But the labels were still there. It was a case from kids - Independent Reader, award winners. I lost it.
I had to get in my car and drive to the far side of the lot to park, where I sat for well over 20 minutes, crying. It’s been almost a year since our store closed - since all of my stores closed. I did not expect it to still hit me so hard, and yet I’m hardly surprised. I loved that job, those people, that place. I loved what I did - so, so much that it can still make me cry 11 months after the fact. I wish I still saw my regulars, that I could still help students get ready for tests, families plan vacations, couples plan weddings or get ready for a child. I wish I could help the person who is looking for books on recovery or dealing with death, I miss talking to the high school kids who love Twilight and the college kids who are just discovering Rilke. That and so much more were more than a part of my life, they were what made my life great, and I miss it (and them) more than I could ever put into words. I always will.
Perhaps the greatest gift that Borders gave me, even more than the experiences and memories, was the knowledge of what it is to truly be passionate about your work. Once you’ve known a life where you get paid to do the one thing you love more than anything else, it’s impossible to go back. It’s hard to do and more often than not you have to sacrifice a lot to do it, whether it be through hard work off-hours or shitty pay or lack of benefits, but my god is it worth it. Every time, without fail, it’s worth it. They say that if you do what you love you’ll never work another day in your life. I don’t know if that’s true, but once you’ve found what you love you’ll certainly work every day of your life to have the chance to do it again.
Forgive my ramblings, and if it’s poorly worded, I apologize - just something I had to get out.
I’m amazed it took this long for them to start bouncing.
I’m concerned about the future of books and bookstores, but I’m even more concerned about the 14,000 people who lost their jobs in the liquidation of Borders. Thomas Jefferson said he couldn’t live without books, but we really can’t live without jobs.
(And look, I’m a capitalist: I understand that an efficient economy creates jobs where they’re needed and removes them where they aren’t. I get that we can’t pay people to do work that doesn’t add value. But I think bookstores do add value, and I hope to convince lots of other people that I’m right. That’s something Hank and I are thinking about a lot as we plan for The Fault in Our Stars tour. We want to find ways to reward bookstores for all the value they bring to our lives, while still embracing the truth that the Internet is a great place to find and buy books.)
Nerdfighters make my heart happy.
Source: papsicle
But we were there. I am Proud to have been a bookseller. I am proud to have worked for a once generous and supportive company that elevated me professionally and personally. I am proud to have helped endless people, no doubt suffering, find books on dealing with depression and anxiety or the death of a loved one. I’m proud to have put baby books and wedding books and college guides into peoples hands and to have been some small part of their lives for a bit. I’m proud to have given Phillip Pullman a leg up, and Octavia Butler and Muriel Barbery, Craig Thompson, and Malcom Gladwell. I am so proud to have learned so much over the years simply by being surrounded by books and having instant access to so much information and ideas. We were there. We got it.
To those who say this is a market correction, that this is overdue, that conventional publishing is dying: I think back to my Borders family, to all the people who have been a part of my life, even if just for a moment as I helped them shop, I say…You are probably right, but I kindly and respectfully add Fuck You.
Borders on Brink of Liquidation
This news makes me sad for obvious reasons, but I have to get this out. Borders is where I learned how to be an adult. Where I learned what it really meant to do a job well, rather than just how to get by. It was where I learned to be responsible for myself and how to lead a team. It’s where I cemented my belief in the importance of a joyful workplace. I’m not saying the corporation taught me this, it was and is a corporation like any other, but my store and my team were exceptional.
If this happens, and it inevitably will, thousands of talented booksellers will never work in the business again. Countless towns will lose another (or their only) bookstore. So many new authors won’t get the boost up of a handselling bookseller who loved their ARC. I’m starting to understand how Obi-wan felt when he said ”It’s as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly slienced.” Booksources closing, be they big box, indie or library, is bad news for everyone.
Support the literary arts every chance you get. Start by buying a book for a kid, any kid - even one you don’t know. It could change a life. I learned to love books so much as a kid that when I grew up, I wanted to be a bookseller. My life has been infinitely richer because of that. To those of you still in the field, I commend you for your backbreaking work and passion and wish you all the luck in the world. Please do not ever hesitate to let me know if there is anything I can do to help you. I may not be in the stacks every day anymore, but they’ll never leave me. Hopefully someday I’ll get to come home.
And even if we are later occupied with more important things, if we attain glory or fall into misfortune, still let us remember how good it was once here, when we were all together, united by a good and kind feeling, which made us better, perhaps, than we were.
Dostoyevsky
Wednesday: All books are 99 cents. The walls are ripped apart, crusted with glue where shelves once stood.
There are 10 copies ofFist Pump . Fifteen of Sarah Palin’sAmerica by Heart: Reflections on Family, Faith, and Flag . Sixteen ofObama’s Wars by Bob Woodward.
There is one copy ofThe Chaos Scenario by Bob Garfield. Amid the ruins of mass media, it says, the choice for business is stark. Listen or perish.
Tammy Zazeckie, 50, buys several large bookshelves and carts of plastic placards. She home schools six kids in Palm Harbor, and when a bookstore closes, they come.
“We have a library upstairs. Thousands of books.” The employees look tired. One has worn his maroon mortarboard and gown, as he is graduating from Borders.
“Today is our final day of business,” the loudspeaker says. “Thank you for shopping with Borders.” The store closes at 4 p.m., but guests loiter. Workers stack leftover books and CDs and magazines in the center, along with some maps of Kansas and Japan and Pasco County. They take down the signs that say one day left.
Outside, a woman peers through the window. It’s too late.
Stephanie Hayes for the St. Petersburg Times, about the bookstore where I spent my past 5 years. I don’t think I’ll ever get over it. It was, without a doubt, the best job I’ve ever had. I was there yesterday when they shut it down for good, I’m pretty sure I made the last purchase. I will never forget the store and the crew at 593. I will forever think of books as where they belonged in that store, my home.
Source: tampabaytimes.fl.newsmemory.com
The #3 Reason I Will Always Miss Being A Bookseller
For those of you who don’t know, I worked as a bookseller for Borders for 5+ years. Some of that time was spent doing corporate sales for the district, but for the better part of my time there, I was pulling my weight on the floor. I’ve been gone for two weeks now, and our store is down to its last 8 days of business. I stopped in today to say hi and see how things were going and one of the supervisors handed me a letter someone had apparently brought into the store. I can’t scan it, so the picture and the transcription are all I’ve got, but things (and customers) like this are the #3 thing I will always miss about being a bookseller. (Number 1 is, naturally, my co-workers, and number 2 is - of course - the books.)
THE TRANSCRIPT:
Dear Gore Verbinski, screenwriter, director, producer:
Hello again. Borders is closing & there’s all hese great deals here in Clearwater. It’s an opportunity for a low-cost movie extra shoot.
You could probably even get “James Bond” to visit a Borders store and capture it all on film for $1000-$10,000, and even get some Tupperware to take to West Point in the process.
I know all about that girl who wants Sterilite and Tupperware and Rubbermaid resealable lunch containers from you.
Right now, the Hub at 1055 4th St. S would do 20-40 people (free breakfast at 8:30am and free clothes closet, too!)
Rango was a huge success, however you just haven’t “sold the world” yet - or something like that. There’s furniture here & $10 8 person lunch boxes & $3 salad bar holders & $3 blender pitchers, & a great audio system for $1250
Very cordially, Ms [unreadable]
P.S. The reptiles are not allowed in the Oldsmar Flea Market, tell them [cut off]
The blog formerly known as Minty Fresh 2.0. Thoughts, quotes and tidbits that I find while traipsing about the intertubes. I tend to treat this as my internet scrapbook, so there's no telling what might show up. If you're new here, welcome! Make yourself at home, the bourbon's over there.
