The Complete Short Stories by Evelyn Waugh Page: 320

I still enjoy Waugh’s writing and am happy to be working my way through another book of his. My experiences reading short stories this year has convinced me that reading straight through a collection of them is not effective. They tend to blend together and individual stories are hard to remember. Incidents stand out, and the author’s particular “flavor” comes through more strongly than in a novel but the narrative arc of each story is very difficult to recall clearly.

Today was a nutty day. My loyal, faithful and tireless employee, who works every Monday - Friday 6:30am-1pm, actually got sick. Imagine! She has never done that before! So I had my little sis Rachel helping me and between us we managed to run the coffeehouse and the bookstore and juggle a very tired and fussy Luc and a typically rambunctious Alex. She’s only 13 and not entirely accustomed to handling a screaming baby so she got a bit tired and stressed out at one point but, all things considered, I think we managed with tolerable grace. We had good sales today which was encouraging and I think the 10-minute stretch of baby-squalls failed to drive too many people away. Phew.

Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson Page: 319 Finished

The Cairo Trilogy by Naguib Mahfouz Page: 1313 Finished

I love Treasure Island. I’ve read it dozens of times since I first picked it up when I was 12 or so. It is perfect, exciting, wise but not moralistic, and just plain fun.

I also thoroughly enjoyed The Cairo Trilogy. If not on the level of some of the “true classics” I’ve read this year, it is still a magnificent series of novels. They flow lightly into one another making this all-in-one-volume trilogy feel like a whole.

I’m thrilled with the page count I racked up today. I made up for yesterday’s failures and made a small dent in my page deficit. Happiness. Since my in-laws watched the boys today, I also managed to be uber-productive at Veritas too. I got lots of great organizing done in the bookstore and worked about 6 hours in the coffeehouse. It’s only 7 now, so I have another four to go and since I also opened at 6:30 (OK, OK, 6:38), I tired.

The Cairo Trilogy Page: 605

I’ve recently discovered the delightful world of waiter-blogging. Thanks to VSL I was introduced to Waiter Rant and from there discovered others. I’m still in the service industry, though as an owner injustices are less frequent, and I spent years hostessing and waiting tables so the frustrations these bloggers express are not new. The table that just won’t leave, the pathetic tips after great service, the outrageous requests; they all resonate.  Two of my worst experiences are a two-top that stayed for over 6 hours and some absurd mother asking me to kiss her 16-year-old son “for his birthday”; which is an awful request on any level but when you add in my own stringent moral standards - I’ve never kissed any man but my husband and I didn’t kiss him until he was my husband - it was enough to make me choke. I wanted to ask her if she thought I was a hooker and if she was in the habit of hiring them for her children…but refrained. Waiting tables is thankless and brutal but, fortunately, the money can be pretty good;otherwise many artists, writers, and college students would have starved to death long ago.

Working in the coffeehouse feels similar to waiting sometimes; we get the asinine questions, the demanding customers, and the condescension, but baristas are much less tip-dependent and I’m the boss so I get to rule over all idiots without worrying about some stupid corporate policy. I do have the much greater worry of maintaining a clientèle but if someone is being ridiculous, well, I probably can’t afford their business anyway. One rarely mentioned aspect of “customer service” is the art of ridding oneself of an expensive customer. Due to their incessant demands, desire to get free stuff or squeeze every last drop of product out of you, not to mention the time-suck they become, some customers cost you more than they spend with you. The guy that spends freely but talks so LOUDLY on his cell-phone that he drives other people away is probably costing you money. The penny-pincher using doubled coupons, discount day and the manufacturer’s rebate (Hi Pam!) isn’t adding to the bottom line. And the complaining, whining, sending-everything-back, please-take-that-off-my-bill-guy is definitely raising more than your blood pressure.

So if you find yourself worn out from dealing with a client, take a look at what they are spending and what it is actually costing you. You might find out that you can’t afford to stay in their good graces.

Master and Margarita Mikhail Bulgakov Page: 446

A Vindication of the Rights of Woman by Mary Wollstonecraft Page: 84

I was prepared for Bulgakov’s novel to be “too much” for me. Maybe it’s the rest of the reading I’ve been doing this year, maybe it’s the natural consequence of high expectations, maybe it’s just because I’m so smart…it wasn’t that difficult a book. Of course if you’ve been reading lots of thrillers, romance novels, or children’s books, it will probably be a bit disorienting.  Still, there are a lot of literary allusions in it and it also provides an emotional atmosphere of life in Stalin’s Russia so it can be well worth your time if you’re willing to invest a bit more than normal.

Speaking of investing more than normal…I’m going on three years without a paycheck now and I’m not sure that I’ll ever see enough compensation from my small business to “pay me back” for all the time and tears I’ve invested. I’m owed so much overtime right now that I could retire on it. Still, the freedom of not working for the man, or anyone else, is pretty much priceless. I miss my paycheck but I don’t miss having someone stare over my shoulder. I miss things like “benefits” “vacation” and “sick leave” but oh how little I miss corporate policies, office “parties” and dress codes. I haven’t worn nylons in years; don’t even own a pair and I do wear flip flops every single day; even in the winter. Of course I can only do this because Jared is able to support our family so well on his income and because he is willing to invest both his time and our time in the hopes of future payoff. If one day I can take home a modest salary and work less than 60 hour weeks I’ll be happy with my job. I’ll always be able to have my sons with me at work and that is worth a lot. Some days I’m insanely jealous of moms that get to have someone else watch their kids all day…and then exhausted and weary, I come to my senses and remember that I wouldn’t change this time with them for the world.

Master andMargarita Page: 250

Linda G. Wins! I used a random number generator which gave me the wonderful number 7 so comment 7 won and will be receiving Dracula. That was fun.

I hardly got any reading done today partly because I’m so tired I can hardly keep my eyes open and partly because the boys were a handful again. They’ve been more work than normal all week and I’m starting to wonder what it could possibly be. Luc might be teething and I suppose Alex could be too but I’m never really sure until the teeth pop through if that’s what is going on. They both are in bed already (it’s only 8pm!) so since Jared graciously volunteered to close Veritas, I’m getting ready to go to sleep. I had a first-ever experience today. Normally when I have the boys with me at Veritas I only ever work in the bookstore. It’s much easier up there to deal with munchkins and customers when no hot liquids are involved. The coffeehouse is fraught with no-nos for Alex and there is really no place for Luc downstairs either. Well, Jared had to get the car from Nampa (where his shop is) because he had the work van for delivering an entertainment center. Now that we only have one car and the kids car seats are in it, we had to get it for the weekend. So rather than pulling our usual routine and sending out the cry for help to Quinn or Pam, I volunteered to handle the coffeehouse, the bookstore and both boys for the hour it would take to fetch the car. We survived. Fortunately between 1:30 and 2:30 is pretty slow on a Friday afternoon and we only had two customers (weird I know, to be happy to not have customers), only one of whom ordered coffee. Luc played in his saucer-jumpy-bright-plastic-toy-thing most of the time and Alex and I chased each other around. I’m so glad we didn’t get a HUGE knitting group or anything, with 17 drink orders and scandalized women looking shocked that I have my children within 15 feet of an electrical outlet…

Wealth of Nations Page 525

So I was getting ready for work this morning, finishing up my extensive beauty routine of pretending I brushed my hair, applying mascara, and slipping my earrings in, when I discovered it’s been about a year since I plucked my eyebrows. Priorities change…
Sometimes I want to blog more about my working life, especially when I find out there is another bookstore owner reading my blog. I think that it would be fun to share some of the day-to-day of shopkeeping. Unfortunately a high percentage of the anecdotes I could be sharing are, let’s say critical, of customers. Much of the time I’m simply astounded at how obtuse people can be. On further reflection I usually determine that I just need to employ a little more grace, a little more benefit of the doubt in interpreting their behavior; however it cannot always be explained away, thus the humour and the caution. What if they read my blog? What if they’re offended? What if they come in and throw rotten tomatoes at me? Brent would have me photograph them so identification would be clear but I lack both the technology and the balls to pull that off. In the spirit of bravery, camaraderie and pure humor, let’s hear it for dumb questions. Q. “Are your books in any particular order” A. “Yes. They are organized by color and sub-categorized by the date of the author’s marriage. Q. “Can I check these out?” A. “Yes. ‘Bookstore’ actually means ‘Library’.” Q. “So how do you price your books?” A. “Randomly.” Q. “So are they for sale?” A. “Nope, they’re free…take as many as you can carry.” Q. “Do you have any romance novels?” A. “No. We do have lots of good books though (with props to Judy Garder).”

The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith Page: 240

The price of corn. The price of wheat. Nominal price. Actual price. Two pounds Tower weight in 1640. One ounce Tower weight in 1580. Shillings. Pennies. Copper. Silver. BLAH BLAH BLAH. Just state the law of supply and demand and get it over with! I guess economics aren’t my thing…big surprise.

In other news we had music at Veritas tonight…in fact as I write this the first band is playing. They named their band “Castratti” (I don’t even want to know) AND THEY ARE PLAYING SO FREAKING LOUD I CAN’T HEAR MYSELF THINK. Yes I’m officially old but I’m making peace with that. What I haven’t made peace with is my new deafness. I always figured that blindness would be the worst affliction but deafness might be problematic too. What about when Luc cries? Oh wait! Maybe I’ll get to sleep through the night tonight!

Joseph and His Brothers Page: 788

Maybe it’s a side effect of committing to get over feeling sorry for myself, maybe it’s an extra dose of adorable kiddos, maybe it’s just because my fever finally went away but life is good today. Alex is playing in the bookstore, happily and quietly, bringing me books to read to him (why yes, at 1 &1/2 you are so ready for Shakespeare!) and generally being sweet. Luc is contented and cooing and most of my work is already done at 10:00am. I love my boys so much and am grateful that I get to have them near me all the time.

I’ve been enjoying Joseph and His Brothers not the least because Mann’s prose is complex, layered, and I believe, very German. I occasional like to hear an intrusive narrator. One who’s personality becomes a part of the narrative. I don’t tend to be distrustful of the narrator’s voice no matter how many lit classes I had that included discussions of “unreliable narrators”. Maybe it’s because my taste lies with an earlier era that tended to assume sincerity but I enjoy believing that the narrator is telling the truth as he knows it. Anyway, taste aside, Mann’s omniscient narrator seems to both be a skeptic and a believer. He accepts the Old Testament narrator in one breath and then rationalizes it in the next. He also talks about events in the story both as fictional creations and as historical fact as though he were the literally omniscient revealer. Fascinating and good storytelling too.

Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu Page: 1184 Finished

I’m finished *happy dance*. Unfortunately the novel got better as it ended. I’m sad…I wanted to skim it.

OK, I need a primer in Greenbelt etiquette. Of course the ruling principle in all codes of etiquette is to ensure that other people are as comfortable as you can make them. However, different situations call for different specifics and, as I’m a new bicycle commuter, I’d rather not commit too many errors out of ignorance. Anyway Boise readers especially please help me out but if you live elsewhere and use a bike/walking/jogging path please chip in with your two cents. I already cry “LEFT” as I prepare to pass a slower cyclist or pedestrian but when there is a crowd sometimes I have to yell “Excuse Me” and I worry that people think I’m rude…

Here’s the newsletter I sent out about my bike rack/iced coffee idea.

“So rumor has it that fuel prices are up. I wouldn’t know, I haven’t paid for gasoline in months…but, considering that the rumors might be true and that others might be affected by what has, so far, passed me by, I’d like to make your life a little easier. Really, I’m not selling you anything, just asking for a teeny, tiny little donation. But in return you’ll get so much more than you’re giving! I promise!

Drumroll please…

Starting this week and continuing indefinitely, if you ride your bike to Veritas after 6pm on Friday, we will give you a free iced beverage. Ice tea, Iced mocha, iced coffee, Italian soda, whatever you want. And all we ask in return is a donation of any size (even a penny!) toward our new bike rack. I’m shopping for it right now and hoping to get one made locally and installed within a week or two. It’s going to cost at least $300-$400 so we could use a little help with the purchase. We already have lots of lovely customers that ride their bikes but without a bike rack they have to try to chain up to the tree or the stop sign and if you start riding your bike more, because of the lovely weather and allegedly increasing fuel prices, you’ll want to have a place to put it too. And what else can you do on a Friday night that’s half as delicious and cheap as coming down to your local coffeehouse for a FREE iced drink? And don’t forget that we have tons of fun games available like Scrabble, Yahtzee, Trivial Pursuit, and checkers. Not to mention all the fantastic books down here that you could (and probably should) be reading. See you Friday?”

Tale of Genji Page: 740

I promise it’s not Genji’s fault that I didn’t get much reading done today. There is nothing like going without to make you realize how much you appreciate something. I think I’ve always been properly grateful to my mother-in-law for watching Alex and Luc on Saturdays. This week both she and Doug had things going on so they couldn’t. Holy crap! I missed my day “off”. The peace and quiet! The time to read! The chance to take a nap! Of course, I usually work between 12 and 17 hours on Saturday but to be able to work without them underfoot is so incredibly nice that it almost feels like a break. Anyway, thanks to them for all the help these last 7 months. And on our list of wonderfully helpful people we also have Oolie and La-La, who kindly brought me a drink last night along with chocolate and witty conversation and also helped out our Quinn today. Feel the love.

Jared and I spent some time brainstorming ideas for marketing Veritas and for improving our brand and service today. Speaking of service…I’m turning in to such a grumpy old lady…but seriously who expects to get a $1 cup of coffee with free refills and SHARE it? I pissed somebody off by not letting them do that, and maybe they weren’t planning on getting refills but still! Anyway, back to the idea thing. One of the things we want to do this summer (actually wanted to do sooner but time flies, ya-know?) is install a bike-rack in front of the building. So we’re thinking about making it a party and offering free iced-drinks on Friday evenings to anyone who rides their bike to Veritas (donations toward the bike-rack will be somewhat graciously accepted). What do you think?