Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Enfin!

Haven't tried it; one of these days, now that we know where we can get some.
O Canada! O Québec!
Across the street, spirits at the 7-Eleven®!
Occupying the rest of the block, the structure that was the Borders Books Movies Music + Cafe where we worked until we ... uh, 2002.
Still plenty of room in there.
Just to gloat:
As sales decreased annually beginning in 2006, with the company losing as much as a billion dollars over the next four years, executives sought more changes. Soon, we were told to wear only khakis, tattoos would need to be covered, no piercings could be visible, and shirts had to be tucked in and contain no offensive language. The DVD section expanded, the literature section shrank.

Shortly after the release of the Borders Rewards Card, we were all given headsets, which would enable us to “communicate more efficiently.” The changes came in an ugly wave: the clothing, the loyalty card, the headsets.

[...]

Think about this: One of the assistant managers once told me that when he began at Borders, nearly 20 years before I was hired, the store gave a Book Test to potential employees. You were asked what books you were currently reading, what your favorite book was and why, and even given a multiple-choice test on where books would be shelved. You had to be someone who loved books in order to get hired.

The headset is why Melanie quit. She said what we all thought: It was degrading and ridiculous. Our store was tiny. The store’s opposite corners could be walked to and fro in less than 30 seconds. I’m still proud of Melanie for quitting – something I couldn’t do. I shamefully wore the headset into which I spoke, “Please bring out more Harry Potter,” each day.
When we were hired (Early 1998 & boy were they desperate.) it was down to the "multiple-choice test on where books would be shelved." Someone asked something about books/lit-ra-chure in general & us, but nothing more specific.

2 comments:

Weird Dave said...

At least you get to dance on their grave.

M. Bouffant said...

Après Nous, Le Déluge Editor:
And the grave of the Fascist Insect Bank.

Next to go (fingers crossed): FedEx, or at least FedExOffice.