i wouldn't have to work extended hours for two weeks if it weren't for college students being the way they are: college students tend to be cheap procrastinators.

college students are cheap because they are broke. they are broke for many reasons, and i can't really blame them for being broke. this causes them to get upset when a book may cost 5 dollars more at our independently owned store because the corporate one down the street is underselling us on purpose. when a student notices a slighlty higher price, they will A) bitch about it and make me take the book back, meaning i can't wait on other people because i have to put it back on the shelf, B) bitch about it but buy it (in which case they will live with it or decide to return it later), or C) return it because they didn't notice the price until they have owned it for a few days. returns account for a lot of the "customers" at work lately. there can be a line in the store and i can call out for the next person who needs books, but there is no one who does. who would have thought that someone would come to a book store to buy books? i must be crazy.

like i said, college students are also procrastinators. they wait until the last possible second to buy their damn books. this is a blessing and a curse, but it is mostly a curse. it is a blessing because it means i will have employment throughout the semester due to the fact that kids always wait to buy books before a midterm or final. most books, however, are purchased in the first month of the semester. this is not done in a timely or efficient manner though. cheap kids shop around, delaying the purchase. they come to my damn store to check the price on books and waste my time. they do the same thing over the phone. college students also wait until they have gone to class three times to buy books. they think have to have the syllabus in front of them before they can buy them. why can't they learn from the intelligent few who know that professors order books ahead of time, so you can buy your fucking books ahead of time? another great one is where a kid asks for all the books for all of his or her clases, so you get them for them. then he or she sees the books and says "oh, i'll wait on (x amount of books)." well shit buddy, you're going to buy them all anyway and you're at the damn store, why not buy them? the only good answer is "because i'm cheap because i'm broke."

so to wrap things up, here is some advice when shopping for text books. come to the store to buy all of your books ahead of time. you will have this task out of the way, and you are saving employees from much stress. you will have to wait in line, but if you come to my store, you get free coffee, cocoa, muffins, and doughnuts. there is also a magician, and some guy with a fake duck who hangs out in the parking lot. i realize that sometime we sometimes may not have books because lazy professors do not order them on time, or we have sold out. and i apologize, because i know that is lame. but if you don't wait to buy your books, there is a slimmer chance of them selling out!

if you do not have enough money for all of your books, wait to buy your books until you do. you will be less stressed because you won't have to be in the mindset that "damn i can't afford my books" and you can rest assured that you didn't piss off some random books store employee that may be in class with you waiting for revenge. also where money is concerned, don't shop at the corporate store. seriously. their prices may be slightly cheaper now, but when they drive the little guy out of business, you can bet that the corporate store's prices will be sky high again, and there will be nowhere to go to escape from it.

-nate