Books and the Occasional Scammer

Twice a year the Albuquerque Main Library holds a 'clearance sale'.  You can buy as many books as you can stuff into a brown grocery bag - no limit on the number of books or the number of bags.  It's a great deal, especially if you're buying hard covers.  Heck, it's a good deal even if you're buying paperbacks.  This year I managed to fill 4 bags.  Woohoo!  Lots of good reading in my future.

For about elebenty-seven years, the price has been $3 per bag.  However, I guess as the result of inflation and budget cuts, the Friends of the Library decided that, starting with today's sale, the price per bag would be raised to $5 per bag.  They've had this information on their website since the last sale in November 2010.  It was also on signs all over the sale area.

Everything went fine until I went to check out.  There was a nice short line with only one woman ahead of me.  As I get into line, the woman's total comes up on the cash register - 8 bags for $40.  The woman immediately recoils in horror.  Why such a high total?!  The cashier (a small elderly woman) explained the change in price.  The customer immediately went into Evil Cheapskate Customer mode.  She had checked the price on the Internet and therefore the library had 'no legal leg to stand on'.  (I'm not making this up, she actually said those exact words.)  The cashier asked what website Evil Cheapskate Customer (hereafter referred to as ECC) had gotten the information from.  As expected ECC was unable to give her a name.  Instead she kept ranting about how she should be charged only $3 because that's what it said on the Internet.

She was so busy ranting and making life miserable for the very polite cashier that she didn't hear the disparaging  comments that the lady in line behind me and I were making (under our breath) concerning ECC's conduct.  I was also running several very pleasant revenge fantasies in my head.

I did comment to ECC that the Internet is full of erroneous information and is not an infallible source, especially in light of the fact that she'd gotten the information from a website NOT run by the Friends of the Library.  ECC dismissed me with an imperious wave of her hand.

Finally, the woman responsible for the content on the Friends' website walked over and said that their website has had the accurate information since November 2010.  That the Friends are responsible for the information on their website and NOT for any information on a website over which they have no control.  ECC eventually backed off and allowed them to finish the transaction. 

We all breathed a sigh of relief as ECC walked away.  The funniest part - apparently ECC is either incredibly cheap or an incredibly slow learner or is a persistent scammer trying to rip off the Friencs of the Library.  Because the library lady said ECC pulls the same or a similar stunt every single year at every single sale for the past 10 years.  It makes my head ache just to think about it.

Anyway, all's well that ends well.  I got my four bags of books home without giving myself a hernia.  The cat worked his nose overtime smelling all the interesting smells.  There is lots of yummy reading in my future.  Life is good.

Papillon

Random Thoughts

There's no specific theme today...just some random thoughts.

First off, the 2nd family of finches has flown the coop.  I wrote about them earlier, the ones who've been nesting in the tummy area of my cat-shaped wind chime.

It always seems to work that way.  I see them day after day - the babies getting bigger & bigger & then one day I go out & they're all gone.  I suppose there's a metaphor in there somewhere.  It's interesting that I never see them practicing flying.  One day there are three babies in the nest & the next day - none.
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I see on the calendar that Friday, June 25th is Take Your Dog to Work Day.  Trust me, do this only if the dog is well & truly housebroken.  There are some 'presents' that are never meant to be shared.  Dog poop & piss rank right near the top of that category.  Your coworkers will be truly appreciative.
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I love buying books.  It's even better if they're on sale.  And I don't just mean at the chain bookstores.  Some of my best 'scores' have been at secondhand bookstores.  Example:  I've found some autographed copies.  Books signed by Hedda Hopper (oh, go look her up), the Horse Whisperer (whose name has just flown out of my head), and several others.

Equally fun are autobiographies by people I've never heard of but who turn out to be delightful to read about.  Example:  Anna Russell - she was originally training to be a classical musician.  However that didn't work out & she became very popular in the 1950's & 60's as 'the queen of musical parody'.  She spoofed classical music - sort of doing what Weird Al did with pop & rock music.  It's a very funny read.  She did a summary of Wagner's 'The Ring Cycle' - taking several days worth of opera & condensing it down to 20 minutes.  It was totally accurate & showed how absurd the plot of 'The Ring Cycle' is.  Opera lovers adored it.

I'm currently reading an autobiography by Catherine Drinker Bowen - Adventures of a Biographer.  It's a series of essays on what she loved about being a biographer of such people as Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr & Tchaikowsky, among others.  A couple of things make this book fun -- it's a first edition.  It also looks like it was a reviewers copy because there's a card inside that says not to release any reviews prior to the book's release date.'

For me, looking through secondhand book sales is rather like searching for treasure.  Sometimes I find treasure & sometimes I find nothing much.  It's fun & ultimately serves to help stretch my mind.  Keep the little grey cells active & well fed.

Oh, and let's not forget the large softback copy of the entire Chronicles of Narnia that I snagged for just $1.00!  Woohoo!

Papillon