An additon to the "Bookstore Sections People Think We Ought to Have" list:

Today someone was appalled that we didn't have a specific section for books about "Great Human Achievments of the 20th century."

This afternoon a boy walked up to the counter and said,"I need To Kill a Mockingbird." All three of the booksellers at customer service simultaneously quipped, "Man...What did a mockingbird ever do to you??" (Snort! ....Ok. So it wasn't funny.) The kid was not particularly amused. "Oh....I mean, uh, the book." Boy maintains that his response would have been a solomn, "It mocked me. And now it must die."

Also: when a book is as huge a seller as The South Beach Diet is, it's a pretty sure bet that every person whose trade is books knows whether it's out in paperback and possibly even the exact laydown date that it will be. 2 older ladies today were put out that we didn't have the paperback. (It always kills me when people in fur coats with huge rocks on their hands won't shell out the couple extra bucks for a hardcover.) I began to let them know that the book is not out in paperpack and won't even be printed till the spring, but got cut off by one of the lady's declaring that "Yes it is so out. You can get it at Target for $6.99. You people should know these things." I thought about informing her that the paperback she saw is a little fat/carb counter South Beach book, not the one she was thinking of... but suddenly I didn't care at all that she'd be wasting her time and getting the wrong book. I was even...dare I say it? A tiny bit satisfied.

Bad! Bad bookseller! Sit in the corner! No cookie!