Chapter Eight: Tackling Trades

This week left me feeling even more at home in the store. Here's a look at what I got up to!

Day One

Today I was working with the three other trainees. We were with Heather manning the front information station. Things weren't too busy while we were there but we did get to help an elderly woman find some of the books she needed for her book club and give people books that they had ordered or were on hold for them.

Then, the rest of the crew changed over to back info while I worked on entering used books so that they would have shelving to do. While I was entering, I noticed that a book came up around three or four times while it wasn't in the system at all when the woman from earlier was looking for it. This made me think about the upsides of many of Changing Hands's employees working in various roles because that way, they become more familiar with all of the ins and outs of the store, even down to the specific books that it carries.

Next, I met back up with the rest of the trainees as Sarah gave us a much more in-depth tour of all of the store's sections (and some of the quirks that come along with them). I ended off the day by working yet again on some shelving.

Day Two

Today I got to Changing Hands bright and early a couple of hours before it opened to work with Lauren on the weekly Ingram book order. Ingram is the distributing company where Changing Hands and other bookstores get most of their books. Every Wednesday morning, Lauren goes into Booklog and pulls up what has sold in the last week. Then, she will order replacements based on how well the book has been selling and how many there still are in stock. This is also when she looks at the special orders that have been placed throughout the week as well as any books that an employee marked as "TBO" or "to be ordered". An employee will TBO a book if it is a book they feel like the store should sell because they like it, customers have been asking for it, or a combination of the two. Not all TBO requests end up getting ordered, but it's important to consider them and take into account what books employees are excited about selling. Another thing Lauren does when she is working on the order is go and look at which books are low on the bestseller and staff picks display wall since it is important to keep those displays well-stocked.


After Lauren finished up working on the order, I worked on some shelving until more of the other employees started trickling in (not many people come long before the store opens at 10). Then, once the other trainees arrived and were also tackling the shelving cart, I moved over to the used book counter to tackle the seemingly never-ending shelf of books to be entered (but this time I took pictures!!).

Here's a look at my entering station at the used book counter:

The shelf on the right is where the books I'm entering com from.
As you can see, it gets pretty full when trades get busy!!

The empty cart I started with...the calm before the
storm if you will.

I spent an hour or two entering and creating more and more ambitious stacks of books. Here's what one batch looked like all stacked up:

Things were getting a bit precarious!!

All of the labels for the above books 

After a very successful entering session, I ended up with a full cart and a slightly emptier shelf:

Keep in mind trades were going on and books were
being added all while I was entering. Not too shabby, if
I do say so myself!!

Day Three

Today I spent most of my time entering used books, although the shelf was much emptier today so I was actually able to clear it off completely! However, today my ambitious book-stacking reached its climax as halfway through one batch of books two stacks came tumbling down. Now, things could've been a lot worse: I could've just finished an entire three huge stacks that I would then have to pick up and label, or I could've accidentally banged up some books. Luckily, I was dealing for the most part with picture books (which, now that I'm thinking about it, may have been the source of the problem what with their inherent lack of stability--and apparent lack of stackability) so no books were harmed by my chronic clumsiness. Nevertheless, it was slightly irritating to have to painstakingly search through the roll of labels to find the right one for the now out-of-order books. But we live and learn. I I finished off all of the rest of the books on the shelf, careful now to make more stable stacks. I then helped shelve the books I had entered until it was time for me to leave.

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I'm having such an amazing experience at Changing Hands and can't believe that I'm already halfway through my time there! I'll be back next week with another update, but until then, happy reading!