Customer Service at a Book Store
I was at a National Book Store branch yesterday looking for a copy of Rainier Maria Rilke’s Letters to a Young Poet. I could not find the shelf with the book so my husband suggested that I go to the Customer Service counter.
I went there and asked where I could find the book. The lady at the counter searched her computer, wrote the title and the name down, and made several calls. She didn’t give me much feedback regarding what I was waiting for until I asked. When I asked, I discovered that she was waiting for another staff to come to the counter to help me find the book. I waited there for about 10 minutes probably and was debating whether I should still wait at all.
After a few minutes, the staff whom we were waiting for appeared. She said she would go look for the book and I volunteered to just go with her. (She might get lost in the maze of all those books!). After going through a few shelves, she tells me to wait, and then I see her with another female staff. The first lady tells me that the second lady is the one in charge of the shelves.
While we were at the counter by the way, the lady at Customer Service rightly stated that the book was classified under Classics, Literature. When we were looking for the book though, the lady in charge of the shelves, was looking for it near the Sidney Sheldon books. I commented — “Hindi ata dito yun, Miss. Classics yun, e.” (I don’t think you will find it here. The book is a classic.) Would you classify Sidney Sheldon books as classics?
Anyway, to cut the story short, even after moving to the correct shelf, we didn’t find it. They then suggested that I try another branch since they did not know when they would have a copy again.
So much for customer service. Their computer system should already say whether they have a certain book in stock. If it’s not, it should already say at which branch you can find it. If they do not have it, they can order it for you (similar to Powerbooks). And of course, my dream book store would be a store staffed by Literature majors who can tell the difference between a classic and one that obviously isn’t.