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More copies of this ISBN:The Customer Is Always Wrong: The Retail Chroniclesby Jeff Martin
Staff Pick
What a delightful collection of true-life tales! Jeff Martin has gathered together writers and humorists of all stripes to offer a gold mine of cringe-inducing stories about life in the retail world. What writer hasn't spent a few years behind the counter of the local mall, bookstore, or record store? From the absurd to the poignant, The Customer Is Always Wrong will show you retail from the inside. Synopses & ReviewsPublisher Comments:From mom-and-pop general stores to big-box, strip-mall chains, it is impossible to consider the American experience without thinking about the buying-and-selling retail culture: the sales and the stockrooms, the shift managers, and the clock punchers. If you've ever worked in retail — and most likely you have — you probably have a funny, frantic, moving, mortifying, outrageous, or ridiculous story to tell. The Customer Is Always Wrong is a tragicomic and all-too-revealing collection of essays by writers from all corners of the literary world — writers who have done their time behind the counter and lived to tell their tales. Jim DeRogatis, author of Let It Blurt, for example, describes hanging out with Al himself at Al Rocky's Music Store, while Colson Whitehead explains how three summers at a Long Island ice cream store gave him a lifelong aversion to all things dessert-like. This book not only shines a light on the absurdities of retail culture but finds the delight in it as well. If it weren't for the customer, after all, our economy would not function — nor would we slaves-to-the-paycheck get our turn to shop until we drop. And for every abusive customer or moronic employee, there are those people who come into our stores — and our lives — and change them forever... one price tag at a time. Review:"The mundane tasks and indignant exchanges with impossible customers are hilariously captured in this collection of personal essays by a cross-section of writers and humorists. Some, like a spa attendant's dishy tale, are spun with a catty flair and flirt with a mild contempt for frivolous consumers; others, like Wendy Spero's turn as a door-to-door knife seller, are outrageously funny and incorporate life lessons in the litany of humiliations. Breezy and occasionally creepy musings on everything from guilt over serving fattening Swedish pancakes to seniors to the horrors of working at Sears may provide some nostalgic chuckles and perhaps even some unpleasant flashbacks as this collection elevates retail selling to a rite of passage. Two stories in particular that have less to do with the frustrations of the job and more about the impact of the experience on future endeavors: Hollie Gillespie recounts her days as an industrious child entrepreneur and maintains her steadfast optimism in humanity, and the memories of writer and one-time drummer Jim DeRogatis, who passed the time — but never worked — in a local music store reveals the enduring influence of a mentoring shop owner and achieves true poignancy. (Sept.)" Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.) About the AuthorJeff Martin was born in the summer of 1980. Growing up in Tulsa, Ok, Jeff never expected his adult life to be filled with customer complaints and secret shoppers. With various aspirations from superhero (unrealistic) to the next Bob Dylan (impossible), he paid little attention to his school-work. His retail career began at a video store. Jeff soon began idolizing director Quentin Tarrantino for the simple fact that he is the only ex-video store clerk to go on to win an Oscar and make millions of dollars. Upon graduation, Jeff decided to leave his hometown and make his way in the world as a writer. A little over a year later, he returned home with his tail between his legs and a lot of bad poetry. With the writing not paying the bills, he was forced to look for alternative forms of income. A week or so later, he was working at a local bookstore. Seven years and one wife later, he’s still there. What Our Readers Are SayingAdd a comment for a chance to win!
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