Favorite bookstores?   What are your good memories of bookstores and reading?

A few questions about the two positions:

• How does one get promoted to DSM? What factors are looked for?
• How do the responsibilities of the two positions differ? DSM is direct supervision of staff in the digital department, correct? Can they do returns, call the shots on warranties, and deal more directly with upset NOOK customers?
•  How much of a pay increase? (If you don't mind) I realize this will vary by store location.
• Current DSMs: What do you do differently now then when you were a DSL?

I am a  DSL now and I feel that there is no reason why I can't be a DSM. I feel stuck :(

The CRM at my store is treating employees like crap and everyone is fed up. Why? He thinks he is a manager. Telling people things only managers should say, etc. . Do your job, and I'll do mine. He is not my boss, and he needs to realize that. Isn't he just the manager of community relations? All the employees are pissed, and the moral of the store is going downhill.

</rant>

So I'm reeeeeeally ashamed to admit this, but I had a "Hunger Games" dream last night :(

It was surprising because I haven't read the books/seen the movie, but I know the basic story, thanks to Wikipedia.  HG was on my mind because I noticed yesterday the mission got extended to January 2013 (I'm not kidding…grab a PDT), making me wonder if an extra year was enough time to sell those T-shirts.  I'll admit to thumbing through the HG movie/set book once or twice, but again, I've never read the books. Whatever the case - and wherever the dream came from - Effie wasn't nice in bed.

From Hunger Games to Harry Potter to Fifty Shades of Grey, we've all seen books that have held our stores captive, especially if they made a film.  

* The Da Vinci Code.  
* The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.  
* The Bridges of Madison County.  
* Heartsongs.  (No film, but more than enough Oprah time.) 
* Tuesdays With Morrie...  

And I seem to remember a book about vampires - gosh, what was that called again? 

What's your prediction for the next never-ending mission table? (Angry Birds doesn't count.)  

I was originally going with another new Patterson series (where the advertising banner hides the coauthor's name), but that's too obvious.  I considered a (good) Wimpy Kid rip-off.  I tossed around a Food Network graphic novel.  A quality Walking Dead story, in the spirit of The Passage.  Maybe, Awkward Photos at Work.  Or, Fancy Nancy's Entourage.  But in the end, I decided to think OUTside of the God-box, and came up with this:

I predict that Joyce Meyer will begin a high-profile Christian fiction saga, in the spirit of Left Behind.

She can call it: "Fifty Shades of Lahaye."

A manager recently said Barnes & Noble plans to close about 150 stores in the next year?  Anyone hear about this?

Our store is currently only covering Kid's for 8 hours per day.  How many hours per day are your manager's alligating for Kids's ?  Is this a company wide trend ?

So, no one's gonna post about the Fifty Shades trilogy?  REALLY?  Aww come on, folks…we're missing LiveJournal GOLD!  

All those frumpy housewives pushing their toddlers in strollers, buying Barbie books for the kiddies, diet books for themselves, and stopping by the Info desk (as though looking for the typical "reading group" title), asking in passing, "Oh, by the way…do you guys have that new book…a friend-of-a-friend heard about it on The View…oh, goodness, what's it called...Fifty Shades of Grey?"  It's funny how no one's complained, like they did A Million Little Pieces...

In addition to the obvious, I'm impressed by Fifty Shades in what it foreshadows for digital/POD books.  We all have our opinions regarding the series' content/quality, but few see the bigger picture: e-books are opening the door to new genres, and Fifty Shades is the first "unexpected" POD bestseller…a title that made the jump from digital to physical book, with more sure to come.

Has anyone seen this yet:

We all know that compact discs are being discontinued by the end of the year; the major record labels are dropping the format, opting for digital downloads instead.  For those of us who still have Music/DVD departments, the writing's on the wall; our CD's have shrunk faster than books, and the movie walls are filled with single-title face-outs, like Blockbuster's final days.

Like changes on the bookfloor, it's easy to fear the worst.  Indeed, the overall "lack of information" has been frustrating…our SM and DM acknowledge change is coming, but won't provide specific details/dates.  In the meantime, monthly changeovers mimic clearance sales, Red Dot machines - 5 months out of contract - leave holes in the shelving when removed…and customers ask questions.  It was said that Blu-Ray would be our salvation, but that was before Netflix streaming.  Like Bargain, the Music/DVD department is literally losing it's supplier, and it's hard not to remember Software Express - only hitting with a harder punch, with the company in transition.

Scary shit.

So, let's take that in context with the good news that's happened this week.  We've partnered with Microsoft.  Target is pissed off at Kindle/Amazon.  Nook Glow is a solid product, backed up by snazzy television commercials (even on Mad Men!).  CLEARLY, there is a hush-hush plan underway, and to me it feels like the dust has settled with the first round of "tough love" decisions (on the bookfloor).  Yes, I know, a second wave is coming in Music…but what's going to happen to the department, itself?

What will the Music/DVD department look like a year from now?  

What wage did you start at with Barnes and Noble? Let's see if we're all on the same page.

In the last year, did you receive a pay increase? Roughly how many hours do you get a week? How do you guys expect to continue working for a company that pays a wage that was maintained in the late 70's?

For me the answers are: I was hired at 7.75 an hour. I received not a penny over since then and one week I got 12 hours. I don't expect to remain any longer. I need money.

This was, without question, the BEST in-store Nook announcement ever.  It happened on Christmas Eve last year, about an hour before we closed:

"Attention Barnes & Noble customers.  As many of you have noticed, we're out of a lot of books.  We're out of Steve Jobs.  We're out of Tim Tebo.  We're sold out of that little yellow book, about that kid who went to heaven.  We're completely sold out of that dog book...what's it called?"  (The bookseller is heard asking another coworker.).  "Oh, yeah.  Rin Tin Tin.  We're out of Rin Tin Tin.  Hell, folks...we're out of so many books, I don't know what you people are still even DOING here."

"But you know what store is NOT out of books?  The NOOKBOOK store...!"

The announcement went on (of course) to encourage last-minute shoppers to buy Nook, and the salesfloor erupted in both laughter and applause.  I think we might have sold maybe one device that last hour, but what I remember most was that all of us felt HOPE, in that the company might just survive...albeit a little smaller, leaner.
    
I mention this because for the first time since Christmas, we've had that same feeling since yesterday's Microsoft announcement.