I want to write about working in a bookstore

but the world's chaos is messing with me

I sat down to write this month’s Substack and was like…what can I possibly say here that doesn’t sound trite? There is so much madness happening in our country and around the globe that it’s hard to feel like anything I write is important or relevant. Or, even just…helpful?

So, instead of weighing in on this weighty world, I’d like to focus on what makes me feel sane during troubling times like these: community and connection. By staying focused on the people and places that bring me joy, I can temper the noise and the stress. I donate to causes I care about and show up for things I believe in. Mostly, I spend time engaging with literature and with those who love it like I do.

Also! Every time you feel “bad” for sitting around and reading instead of doing laundry or something, remember that reading and writing are more than mere escapism; they are political and democratic acts.

That brings me to an update about my job, working in an independent bookstore in my town. I’ve been there for two whole months, and overall, it’s going well.

Barrington Books is all about customer service. If we don’t have a book you are looking for in stock, we can order it for you. If you are buying a gift for a teacher / baby shower / child’s birthday party, we can help you select something just right and add our complementary wrap service, which includes beautiful, signature green paper and three colors of ribbons of your choice from our rainbow ribbon wall. Not sure what to get that special someone? A gift card always fits. We sold so many gift cards in June that we ran out of the little corresponding envelopes!

At the bookstore, I really like to go above and beyond the expected level of service. Call it the Gerstenblatt Touch. My personal concierge services include:

• Extra-slow wrapping, oftentimes mis-measuring the size of the gift and the size of the paper and having to re-do the whole thing while sweating profusely and / or quietly cursing

• Butting in, telling you what books I think you should be reading and why - even if you haven’t asked and / or only came in for a sympathy card

• Relying on old math, the kind where someone gives you a $50 bill for candy that costs $4.40 and, instead of looking at the computer screen to tell you how much you owe them, you count the coins on your fingers and say the numbers out loud, “fifty-seven cents, fifty-eight cents, fifty-nine cents, and…forty-five dollars and sixty cents is your change!”

• Tap school, in which I “school” older people in how to face the tapping feature on the credit card machine with patience and confidence. This is probably the most critical part of my employment. I have found that, when hearing the phrase “you can tap or insert when you’re ready,” Baby Boomers go into total panic mode about trying to tap. Gen Xers too, although to a lesser degree.

The key to Tap School success is this: you must understand that “tapping” is a misnomer, at least in our store. “Tapping” takes a moment. It does not happen instantaneously. You do not have to flip the card over before tapping it. You will not be successful by waving your credit card magically above the machine while muttering “is this right? Did I do it?” No, it is not right, and no, you did not do it.

The person will then provide a multitude of excuses about their card. “It’s old,” they say. “It doesn’t work with these machines.” Oh, something is old for sure, but I resist naming names.

“Let’s try that again from the top,” I say, after the machine rejects them with the Ding of Failure. “You totally can learn this!” And then I teach them The Way. I guide their hand to the correct placement and make them hold it right there. And then the machine makes the Ding of Success, and their shoulders drop in relief. Not to brag, but I make the world a better place, one tap at a time.

An independent bookstore is balm for the soul. However, standing in a bookstore for 5 hour shifts is a pain in the sole. I have had to forego almost all of my cute sandals when I dress for the bookstore. Here are some highlights from my work footwear collection.

Vince platform sandals, flat sneakers, Dansko clogs

Lastly, I’d like to share some book news! As I mentioned last month, we have a new title for my seafaring adventure. I am still awaiting the official okay to share it with you, so stay tuned. I also hope to be able to pub date soon as well. I am just starting to work on book #3, which is fun too, but it’s so new that I can’t tell you anything about it because I cannot even clearly articulate it to myself.

I have been busy interviewing and /or attending author events of writer friends who stop in Rhode Island on their book tours. First up in June, I interviewed Lian Dolan about her super smart and funny novel ABIGAIL AND ALEXA SAVE THE WEDDING at Charter Books in Newport. Last week, I spoke with Elise Hooper, author of the fab dual-timeline THE LIBRARY OF LOST DOLLHOUSES in Charlestown, and next week I will be moderating a discussion between Annabel Monaghan and Meg Mitchell Moore about their swoon-worthy summer reads, IT’S A LOVE STORY and MANSION BEACH at The Contemporary Theater Company with Wakefield Books. I also got to see Emily Franklin (THE LIONESS OF BOSTON) and Dawn Tripp (JACKIE) in conversation at local indie fave Inkfish Books. Biographical fiction about Isabella Stewart Gardener and Jackie Kennedy? Talk about a dynamic duo.

with Elise Hooper, Emily Franklin, Dawn Tripp, and Lisa Valentino (owner of Inkfish), and Lian Dolan

Here some of the books I’ve been getting lost in. I hope you can get lost on a beach or on a boat or at a pool this weekend — with a good book, of course!

See you back here in July!

xo

Julie