Today at Logos

I anticipated a big day at Logos today.  Sandy had such a busy morning that she had nearly filled up the first side of the log where we record every transaction.  Afternoons are often more busy, so I settled in with Bill Bryson's Shakespeare book, began to read, and waited for the hoards to arrive.

The first customer, an older man with grey hair and moustache, arrived about 20 minutes after I got there and asked to be directed to the mysteries.   He was looking for books by John Sandford, which apparently we did not have, but he told me that most of Sandford stories have the word "prey"  somewhere in the title ("Field of Prey," "Silken Prey," "Stolen Prey," etc.), that the hero was a guy named Lucas Davenport, they were set in Minnesota, and were a fast read.  While he was educating me in the books of John Sanford, his daughter (I assumed...a young woman who had that air of familiarity about the man) was brushing a bug from the front of his shirt.  I thought it endearing.

But he didn't buy anything and left with his daughter.

In down time I set about taking a couple of selfies.  Ever since I bought a cable release that attaches to my phone and lets me take a selfie from either away from my arm, or, as in the case of this picture, with my arm extended so far that I would not be able to touch the button which takes the picture.  Best buy I've made for the camera.

I had lots of time to fool around with selfies because nobody was coming in. I thought I had someone when two girls with filled shopping bags came up to the door and as one started to push the door open, the other said something and they both turned and left.

A guy who reminded me of Tim McGee on NCIS (it seems that a lot of the guys who come through Logos have that McGeek look about them!). He was complaining about the heat outside and glad for the air conditioning inside.  He said that his eyes were burning and he kept sneezing.  He told me that he lived in Auburn, a few miles up the foothills, where the pollen was terrible and he thought he'd drive in to Davis to get away from it.  Guess nobody told him that Davis is the hay fever/allergy capitol of California and people who have not had any hint of allergies in their family developed them sooner or later just from living in Davis.  He eventually left, after a long time of either browsing or cooling off, without buying anything.

An older couple came in and asked if we bought books.  When I told them no, they made a cursory search of the contemporary fiction section, but also left without buying anything.

I'm not a tattoo person, but the girl who came in next was truly a work of art.  Both her arms and I'm sure her chest and back because I could see curlicues peeking out over the top of her shirt.  I even complimented her on the art work.  She was looking for a book by an author she pronounced "Magam."   When she told he his first name, I realized she meant Somerset Maughm and directed her to our classic fiction, where she was thrilled to find "Of Human Bondage," the very book she was looking for.  She thanked me for telling her how his name was pronounced.

It was my first sale of the day, and it was already after 3 p.m.

A girl carrying two packages gift wrapped in newspapers and tied with string came in.  She was looking for books by Abbie Hoffman, but didn't find anything and left without making a purchase.

An older guy came in, again pleased with the cool book store.   He said it was 90 in San Francisco.  He searched for awhile and bought 2 self-help books, one of which was Elisabeth Kubler-Ross's "Death."

A short woman came in, checked for the city weekly calendar and took a copy of that.  She looked around for awhile and complimented me on the condition of the books.  Her friend arrived and both left without buying anything.

Nothing much happened then until "my friend" arrived at 4:20, carrying a package of Leibniz cookies.  Even he didn't find anything interesting today and left after about 10 minutes.  We talked a bit and he asked where my theater reviews appear.  I told him the Davis Enterprise and he says he doesn't get that paper, but would go to the library and look them up.  I won't hold my breath!

An older man came in with a list of what his son wanted him to look for.  Something on highway engineering and road planning.  He didn't really know what he was looking for.  My friend was still there at the time and made some suggestions and the guy went away with a report from a traffic study conference.  He figured it was only $6 and if his son didn't want it, he wasn't going to be out a great deal.

Another man came in looking for "A Course in Miracles, which we didn't have, so he left.

A couple who asked if they could bring their drinks in stayed for a bit and bought one psychology-themed book.

I was despairing of the day I'd had financially until the Happy Lady arrived.  She started looking at our old books and gathering books in her arm.   She disappeared for a bit and I didn't see her pick up other books, but eventually she piled 23 books on my desk -- art books, history books, young people's books, lots of mysteries, etc.  The total was $159.76.

Whew!  I wasn't a total loss after all.  

Susan always sends thank you notes after you work and her note night said,

So, tell me - what is your secret? Sandy was already at $200 when she left at 2 pm, and Bev, though she had fewer people, managed to do the same by the time I came on board at 6 pm!

Ladies: $458 for the day (I made $50 during my two hours - not too bad at all!)

Yeah!!!!

The nicest part of the day was coming home and reading an e-mail from a guy whose performance I had reviewed last weekend.  It was the very nicest note I have ever received on a review.  I just hate it that somehow it got lost in cyberspace, so I don't have a copy of it, but I have written to get his e-mail address so I can write to him.