Weird Things Customers Say In Bookshops

[mayaswell]

Just listening to Mariella Frostrup on R4 discussing it with the author. Such as 'Do you have a copy of Lionel Richie and the wardrobe?' or 'have you got 1986 by George Orwell? Don't you mean 1984? No, I know it's 1986 because that was the year I was born'

:o.

I remember my mum having to deal with a man that became very abusive because the bookshop she worked in had the temerity to sell this. Apparently it is 'filthy' and 'immoral' and he would be complaining to the church....

Oh, just remembered one. Not a bookshop, but a college library where my mum worked. A young french student came in and asked her if they had a copy of Cette Anniversaire? Queue lots of head scratching from the librarians, and frustration from the student. It turned out he wanted to borrow a copy of Satanic Verses :)

DS has got The Little Mole (poop up edition). It's fab!

Love the Little Mole, it was one of our favourites and one of the few survivors of the great cull when dd2 moved onto real books - we kept some for when small nephews and nieces visit.

Heehee! The lady who wrote it sounded lovely, she had lots of stories. A very cross lady who came in asking for a book, she didn't know the title, the author or the subject of the book but couldnt understand why the assistant couldn't just look on their computer!

Not a customer, but an assistant in the local bookshop where I used to work; a lovely girl but not a huge reader herself. We used to take phone orders from customers and jot them down to order later. I was puzzled one day to find an unfamiliar book called Donkey Oaty on the list ... until it dawned on me that he was the one who rode around with Sancho Panza :)

I've overheard someone in my local bookshop asking if they have a book with a "bluish cover". Err do you know the title or author? "Nope."
Do you know what it's about? "Not really, I just liked the look of it"
Is it a new book? "Not sure".
Is it fiction? "I think so....although I'm not 100%"

There should be a door policy in bookshops where idiots aren't allowed in!

It's like when I did a car boot sale and one woman kept asking me "have you got these in a 5 and a half?" "Do you have this in a size 14?"
NO YOU MUPPET I'M NOT A BLOODY SHOP