Monday, February 21, 2011

Borders

For those who haven't followed me for a long time, I used to work there, from 1997-2001. (Yes, it overlaps with my teaching job at Villanova - you can tell how much professors make to start.) With ChrisI and MichaelG and Christine (there were a lot of Christines there, for some reason - I think all my bosses in the Ebar were named Christine) I worked at Store #30, Bryn Mawr, PA. It's not on the closing list, but both of the stores where we live now are being closed.

Author Brian Keene on his blog reports of lots of bad stuff, including bounced paychecks. Michele Lee is a Borders employee and is blogging daily about the end of her store. She encourages people to come buy stuff. Exactly as she describes in her post, I remember the store as a very pleasant place to work (though there was some hanky and panky in the store room, or so I'm told, and definitely some herbal recreation on the loading dock). Our son was very small and he'd love to play with the styrofoam peanut dispenser. All our children's books are from there, as are all my CDs (I'd only just thrown out the turntable and bought a CD player in 1997). I'd chuckle every time in the bathroom, as the industrial soap they bought was labelled "KIM-CARE" and I thought - "Wow! Soap just for me!" Oh, and it was the closest I came to being unionized (and lefty me really should've been a union member at some point in my life): ChrisI was standing outside my class one day with the petition and I signed it, but it never got to the next step.

I'll stop by the Scarsdale store tomorrow and see what's left.

3 Comments:

Blogger Chris Perridas said...

Thank you for telling about the other side of Borders. And for as many "gifts" we've exchanged on facebook, I did not know about your "other life" in religious studies, only the horror side.

11:33 AM  
Blogger Bobbie Metevier said...

ugg! Borders is a Michigan company, and we who suffered the loss of GM (for the most part) turned our pride on Borders.

I hope they can save what's left of the chain.

1:38 PM  
Blogger AstraDaemon said...

I worked at a Borders in Rancho Mirage CA...it was a flagship store...not surprised at all by the downfall, as corporate did not like to listen to suggestions from employees that knew quite well what the patrons wanted.

Working at a bookstore, however, almost ruined my enjoyment of books...I was having trouble seeing past the business end of things.

2:22 AM  

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