Today at Logos

On our drive to lunch yesterday, Susan informed me that the girl I call "Eliza" is not, in fact, the girl who gave her name as Rain.   They just look a lot alike...and dress a lot alike, but Rain didn't wear the heavy blanket and Eliza does.  Nice to have that cleared up.  Neither of them came in today, though.

When I arrived at the store, Sandy was ringing up a sale for a guy who was mentioning that he had attended Jesuit High in Sacramento.  I asked if he knew my old boyfriend, who was on the faculty there awhile ago, but he said he did not.   I wondered if he really did not, or if he knew that my old boyfriend has been "benched" at the seminary because of charges of inappropriate behavior with a minor.  He did look at me rather oddly when I asked him.

Sandy had a so-so day, but I had a terrible afternoon.  There were a total of six sales, the largest of which was to "my friend," who spent nearly $20.  Four of the six sales were for bargain books, so a sum total of $4.  We have had donated books, though and for today at least, the number of books donated was more than the number of books sold on my shift!  I am assuming that when the temps drop to something more comfortable and when the students are moving in to Davis, not moving out, this ratio will reverse itself.

Shortly after Sandy left, I had a "butt call" from Walt.   I tried yelling at his butt, but he didn't hear me.  I did call back and leave a message, which he eventually got, but didn't return the call since he hadn't wanted to talk to me anyway.

I saw Bruce looking through the bargain books, but I guess he didn't find anything he wanted because he didn't come into the store.

A Chinese guy bought 2 bargain books.  He told me he was from Nanjing, the capital of Eastern China.  He has only been in town for "40 days," he says, and added that he thinks the people of Davis are very nice.  He wanted to know where he could buy sheets of stamps and I drew him a map to the local post office and assured him that yes, he could get there on his bike.

A woman wearing heavy jeans and a sweatshirt came in and complained about the heat.  She was looking through the travel books and bought a book on Vancouver and "The Sun Also Rises," explaining that she is leaving for Spain next week.  She also talked about how much she loves Vancouver and what a great city it is to get around in because the transportation system is so good.

A woman came in to find out where she could catch a bus to Sacramento.  I had to tell her I wasn't that familiar with the Davis bus system and I was going to call Walt to ask him (because he would know), but she left before I had a chance to do so.

A kind of nondescript woman, fresh-faced, wearing a light weight sundress with a very short skirt and showing off her boobs nicely came in.  She had curly hair that she wore in a pony tail high on her head.  She wandered around for awhile, but, like almost everyone else so far, she also left without buying anything.

A tall guy with a list in his hand went rummaging through the Literature shelves and eventually left without making a purchase.

A woman who reminded me of our old friend Merrell came in.  She was short, rotund, and had a mass of unruly bronze colored curls.  She was looking for books with Spanish on one side and English on the other and I told her I didn't think we had anything like that.  She found a chair to climb on so she could check the top shelves, since she was so short.  Eventually she left empty handed.

In contrast with the low key dresses that the Merrell doppelganger was wearing was a young woman wearing a busy dress with a short skirt in shades of purple, beige and gold, with a butterfly motif.  Her straw bag was woven in the same shades of colors.  I was impressed.  She checked out the "old books," but left without buying anything.

An Asian woman was looking for "Building Bridges, not Walls" and I directed to her toward the Personal Growth shelves, but she didn't find what she was looking for and left.

A Dad and son came in and checked out the children's room, where the son found a book on snakes.  Dad wanted to know if we had any MadLibs books and I told him he was unlikely to find a used MadLib book.  He and his son sat at the front table for a very long time, off and on giggling, which I found cute. They ultimately left without buying anything, and without putting the snake book back in the children's room.

An older man in rumpled pants and a cut-off t-shirt came in.  He reminded me of our old friend Harry Krade (now long dead).  He wandered around for awhile, checking the travel books, before leaving.

A woman came in looking for Harry Potter books.  She bought "Goblet of Fire" and was out of the store in less than 5 minutes.

A Japanese environmentalist was looking for books on the National Parks and also a book on Village Homes, an environmentally friendly subdivision which was so famous in 1975 when developer Mike Corbett built it that Rosalind Carter came out for the dedication.  At least one of our kids was part of the welcoming committee for her.  Sadly, I don't think anybody has written a book about Village Homes (but in case someone has, I sent him to the Avid Reader to look) and he didn't find what he was looking for about national parks, so another no-sale.

A Mom and son came in.  The little kid had a tube of "something" and I asked him about it.  He told me that it had everything--knights, dragons and swords.  "That's cool," I said.   "Yeah--I have good stuff," he told me.  Mom ultimately bought a different Harry Potter book.

I almost didn't notice the "purple lady," who, as it turned out, was my last customer of the day.  She was wearing a purple dress, a purple headband, shoes and purse which nicely contrasted with her blonde hair and pale skin.   But she was in and out very quickly and, of course, did not buy anything.

Peter arrived just about 6, followed soon after by Walt and my exhausting day at Logos was over for another week.

Day 73:  I LOVE my new t-shirt!