I love John Hodgman. (Not liking the facial hair, though).
Jon Stewart: There's stuff bookstores can do, that the internet can't.
John Hodgman: Oh, you mean like shelter the homeless?
...
Jon Stewart: What about the human element? Bookstores build a personal relationship with their customers you simply cannot get from a computer. There are employee interactions, employee recommendations.
John Hodgman: Oh, yes. Yes, thank you. Employee picks. Thank you, pudgy neck beard counter guy for cluing me in to Philip K. Dick. Again. What's the matter, are you sold out of Confederacy of Dunces this week? Ha ha! Up high, Jon! Literature slam! I got him!
But you do raise a good point, Jon. Bookstores employ a very special class of condescending nerds. These are the types that used to work at video stores before they went under.
JS: Where were they before that?
JH: Record stores, obviously. It's been a tough couple of years for condescending nerds. And if bookstores fall, Jon, America will be inundated with a wandering, snarky underclass of unemployable purveyors of useless and arcane esoterica.
JS: I'm not sure I understand.
JH: No. Well, *you* wouldn't.
JS: You seem to hate bookstore employees.
JH: Oh, I loathe them, Jon. They shunt my books under humor, Jon. Not witticism, as I asked. I ask you, do I look like Marmaduke to you?
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Thanks for posting this! I hate bookstore employees, too. And yet, I somehow want to be one.
ReplyDeleteIt seems like a lot of my real-people crushes (i.e., not famous people) are bookstore employees (or movie theatre employees). Maybe that's because there's a really great local book store and theatre here, and so there are some quality people working there. I like the ones that don't take themselves too seriously. Somehow it seems like Borders/B&N employees are the ones taking themselves too seriously...
ReplyDeleteThat's true! Maybe it's because they work for a big corporation and feel like they have something to prove.
ReplyDeleteYeah, that's what I'm thinking -- they feel like they need to overcompensate because they work for a big corporation book chain. And they probably hate themselves and just want to belittle people. And prove that they're better than their job. (Maybe I'm reading a lot into this...).
ReplyDeleteOr maybe they work at Borders/B&N because they don't make the independent bookstore cut. They are the kind that just constantly recommends Philip K. Dick or Confederacy of Dunces. Whereas actual-book-nerds that work at book-nerd independent bookstores (not all independent bookstores are necessarily book-nerd independent bookstores) are more likely to give you *real* book recommendations. They're more thoughtful and seem to care about books more -- instead of trying to one-up you with book choices. I like those kind of bookstore employees.