more weird things customers say in bookshops

He had no idea whether or not such a book existed, but he thought that it ought to, and he wanted to see if we had it. The man who came in looking for a book that listed all the known species of fish. She was almost certain it had a blue cover though. The woman who asked for a book she’d seen in the shop the previous week, but who couldn’t remember the title or the author. My name is Katy, and I haven’t done any of the things that the girl in the book has done.īut, of course, the anecdotes everyone loves are the mind-boggling questions, and in my bookselling years I encountered several that would probably happily sit alongside those in this book, either first-hand or via colleagues recounting that day’s comedy moment in the staff room at break-time: I didn’t think it was very realistic, though.

LITTLE GIRL: I read a book last week called What Katy Did. These are a couple of my favourites:īOOKSELLER: We have a set of books from 1776.ĬHILD: Wow… That’s nearly as old as grandma! Indeed, the second of Jen Campbell’s books, More Weird Things Customers Say in Bookshops, has a lot of wonderful instances of out of the mouth of babes. It’s proof that J K Rowling created nothing less than a gateway drug to more books. The people who genuinely wanted recommendations based on books they’d already read always led to great conversations, and children were usually good fun too, even if I did hear the phrase “I’ve read the Harry Potters, what else can I read?” rather often. The customers that stand out in my memory are the ones who asked interesting questions, not just ridiculous ones, which I’ll come onto in a moment, but also really great ones. This was in the heyday of the Richard and Judy Book Club, and the general daily challenge was getting copies of The Star of the Sea onto the shelves quick enough and in enough quantity to meet demand.

Over my four years as first a part-time then a full-time bookseller, the vast majority of customers were pretty standard. Seriously, I mean, people aren’t actually that ridiculous, are they? ARE THEY? Well, as a former bookseller, I must break it to you that yes, yes they are.Ĭustomers of that sort are, of course, the minority. Reading through Jen Campbell’s two collections of Weird Things Customers Say in Bookshops, you would be forgiven if you thought that some of them must have been made up. How can I watch it?ĬUSTOMER: Where’s the film? Is it tucked inside the cover or something? I don’t remember.ĬUSTOMER: This book looks good. Do you have another copy?ĬUSTOMER: Oh, right. CUSTOMER: Hi, my best friend came in last weekend and bought a book, and she really loved it.

More weird things customers say in bookshops